Two Kids and a Grouch
by Ice Lynx
Summary: Wolverine goes to pick up a new student, but stops to remember someone. At the lake he finds his worst nightmare. Rated to be safe. FINISHED
1. The Begining

Hey! Ice Lynx and giveGodtheGlory have teamed up to bring you this wonderful new story about a girl, another girl, a guy, and a bunch of other people!  
  
Disclaimer; Well, Steph belongs to Ice Lynx and Ruhko belongs to giveGodtheGlory, and unfortunately all the others belong to Marvel... but don't worry cause some day we'll own all of them, muahahaha!  
  
Ice Lynx; We really want y'all to review! Yay for me finally posting this! Lol.  
  
-Ice Lynx + giveGodtheGlory  
  
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Logan looked out over the surface of alkali lake, cigar smoking unheeded in his hand, eyes focused on the past. It had been over a year, but he could still remember her face, her smile, the touch of her mind on his. He still dreamt of standing at her side, but he knew that would never have happened, even if she'd lived. She'd chosen, there at the end.  
  
Sighing, he threw a piece of purple fireweed into the placid water and turned away, chomping down on the cigar, which had gone out. Grumbling now, he patted his pockets, then pulled out a match and struck it on his thumbnail.  
  
Bending his head to shield the tiny flame, he saw something move at the edge of the bush and looked up sharply.  
  
It was the same wolf he'd seen the first time he'd come, two winters ago. Sitting up next to a clump of white birch and staring at him with that same puzzled, familiar expression, as though it expected something of him.  
  
"What?" he scowled at it and finished lighting the cigar, then snuffed out the match and threw it aside.  
  
The wolf was still looking at him.  
  
Tilting his head, he idly stared back at it, waiting for it to cow down and go away.  
  
Instead, it began to crawl toward him on its belly, making little yips and mumbles.  
  
Logan watched as it got closer, eyebrows raised as it finally touched his boot with its nose and smiled up at him hopefully. He knew about wolves. Most of them didn't have much against man, but they didn't have much use for him, either. This one was acting as though he thought Logan was another wolf, one of higher rank, but still a friend.  
  
"Do I know you?" he growled, feeling that queered out sensation in the pit of his guts that he always got when something from his past surfaced.  
  
The wolf gave a little oof, grinning hopefully, then jumped up and bounded away, stopping to look over its shoulder as though wondering why he wasn't coming along.  
  
"What is this? Lassie?" Logan chewed his cigar, eyes narrowed. The wolf cocked its head at the sound of his voice, then yipped encouragingly and came back a ways, still looking at him.  
  
"Okay, I'm comin'. This better be good." Grinning broadly, the wolf trotted into the trees.  
  
Logan tested the air from time to time as he followed it, his cowboy boots making no more sound on the loam than its paws. Squirrels, porcupine, even a big bull moose had been this way, leaving scents that caused Logan's blood to quicken. It had been a long time since he'd gone hunting.  
  
Abruptly another smell came to his nose, one that made him stop dead in his tracks. Turning slowly in place, he tested the air in all directions, pin-pointed the source of the odor, and began to stalk. He didn't have far to go, the aspens soon gave way to a stony outcropping littered with old leaves from seasons past, stretched out in the sun were two more wolves, the alpha pair, judging by their size and smell. Around them tumbled three fat bundles of clumsy, cute fur.  
  
And one naked human baby.  
  
Logan swore in astonishment and anger. Who would leave a little kid out in the bush?  
  
At the sound of his voice the male wolf leapt to his feet, lowering his head with a growl. Behind him, the female and the first wolf herded the cubs into a cleft in the rocks. The female tried to herd the baby in, too, but it swung a little black fist at her and turned back to stand next to the alpha, one hand buried in the fur of his ruff.  
  
It was a little girl, Logan saw, blacker than the ace of spades, with big black eyes that scowled at him from under soft black curls. She was rangy, but still slightly pudgy, obviously she'd been getting enough to eat.  
  
"Back down," he told the alpha wolf, avoiding direct eye contact. This was the wolf's place, his kingdom, and Logan had no intention of challenging his authority if he could help it.  
  
The wolf pricked its ears and watched him cautiously, then turned its head to nudge the baby toward the den.  
  
She gave a bestial snarl and batted its muzzle away, turning to bare a very predatory set of teeth at Logan.  
  
A mutant. He shook his head. If he ever found her parents, he'd.... All thoughts flew from his mind, and he actually took a step back, as the wolf took a step forward, and the baby, knocked off balance, stumbled and shot three stubby, metallic claws out from the knuckles of her free hand. 


	2. A Couple of Days Later

This Chapter Written By giveGodtheGlory, please review!  
  
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Logan stopped the bike outside the Safeway and got off, careful to not jar the backpack he was wearing. Even though Ruhko was nuts about dried meat and candy, he had to get her something better to eat, and something other than his shredded undershirt to wear.  
  
Getting her away from the wolf had been surprisingly easy, apparently the big male felt that she was better off with her own kind, (or he was just tired of being punched and getting his fur pulled out in clumps, Logan suspected that it was the latter). Once she'd fallen on her butt, he'd given a wolf grin and glanced at Logan, then followed his family into the den.  
  
Getting her away from the outcropping had been another story, she snarled, and spat at his approach, scrambling away from him on all fours, then screamed blue murder and bit chunks out of him after he'd chased her down, digging her claws into his chest to hold on. He'd tried wrapping her in his jacket, only to see it shredded, then tried tying her up, but couldn't hold her down long enough to get the thongs around her wrists.  
  
Finally, he resorted to the oldest ploy in the book and bribed her with a gumdrop from the package Rogue had put in his saddlebag. At the first taste of sweetness on her tongue her eyes had widened and stared up at him, then both tiny hands had gone to her mouth to extract the sticky candy so that she could look at it and sniff it. Back into the mouth it went, with contented smacking sounds and sucking of lips.  
  
He'd watched, holding the package where she could see it, half afraid she was going to go Tasmanian Devil again.  
  
She'd finished that one and stood staring up at him, finger in the corner of her mouth, then come to a decision and toddled toward him, holding out her hands, babbling appealingly.  
  
Now she was sleeping in his backpack, and if he didn't move her around too much she'd stay that way till she got hungry again. Hopefully, he could stock up on milk, meat, and diapers (he was tired of being peed on), and go get the kid Charles had sent him back to Canada to pick up. He glanced around at the sleepy town of Red Deer, and shuddered, thinking that Southern Alberta was just too blasted flat. And too full of farmers and red necks.  
  
Coming out of the store a few minutes later, he put everything into the saddlebag, then got onto the bike and steered toward the coordinates Charles had given him. 


	3. Singer With a Killer Voice

This is my first chapter! Yay! Lol, please review!  
  
-Ice Lynx  
  
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Steph looked around at the dreary town in which she had landed in, and cursed the wind for being too strong to fly through, now she was stuck in this stupid little town in the middle of nowhere. Plus her long hair was a pain in the but in the weather; no matter how proud she was of it it did not look or feel good full of water, she looked like a wet rat out here!  
  
Pushing herself forward she pondered how to get out of here. Why was she even in Canada? She had no reason other than trying to reach Alaska and see if they hated mutants there as much as they did in every other state.  
  
"Can I help yeh missy?" Steph looked around until she located the source of the voice, a fat man with a gray beard and wrapped in a brown coat. He was looking at her strangely, and she could guess why, there were almost no Americans with skin as black and hair as red as hers in Canada, and her waist-length red mane was more than clashy for anyone. This also set aside the fact that she had fashion boots with huge high-heels on under designer flares, a white tank top, and a ankle length black trench coat that was billowing open in the relentless wind.  
  
"Where yeh from?" he tried again. Steph glared at him, unable to answer for fear of revealing herself as a mutant when her voice knocked him out cold, she could not stand to think of drowning him in the rain, which was pouring so hard it was hard to believe they could breathe at all anyyway. It was too windy to fly away, so she tried walking, but the man followed.  
  
"Excuse me miss, but are yeh sure there's nothing I can do? Where are yeh headed?" he called. Steph broke into an all out run, and the man stared after her but didnt follow as she vanished into the growing rain storm.  
  
After she was sure she wasnt being followed Steph clutched her trench coat around her and tried to find a sort of shelter, living off of the streets and wilderness taught her that in a rain storm like this it was stupid to spend any more time than absolutely necessary, she'd feel horrible for weeks and it would ruin her clothes, which she had to keep intact at the moment as she had no others to wear.  
  
Looking around for a woods or something non-human she wandered away from the town, wishing she could rise off the ground and get out of the now incredibly muddy ground. It looked like there was a tree-line ahead, forests were much better shelters than the side of a house or the open. Finding one miserable tree that somehow managed to survive on its own in this place Steph gratefully huddled near the base, climbing into one of the lower branches and keeping to where the rain penetrated the tree less. Looking around the wasteland around her she started to sing softly to herself, enjoying the sound of her own voice without people dropping unconscious around her.  
  
She waited for the downpour to end, wishing she could sing her hymns and other songs that she had learned before her mutation kicked in around others. Her mother used to say that she had the makings of a star, until she kicked her out after she caused a whole church to be knocked unconscious for several hours at her debut as a singer. Now she was only able to sing when completely alone, as well as talk and pretty much do anything involving vocal sounds.  
  
It sucked, and Steph lived off of that. 


	4. They Meet

Ice Lynx; SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY!!!! Completely my fault this post took so long, I was being lazy and had school till be more faithful now. Will anyone come back? PLEASE?!  
  
Please review if you can forgive me, and it wasn't giveGodtheGlory's fault either, it was mine alone. I will post every week at least now, more if y'all forgive me and give us reviews! Lol.  
  
Thank you for bearing with me, everyone! Loved the reviews!  
  
-Ice Lynx  
  
PS This chappie was written by giveGodtheGlory.

Logan glanced up at the first rumble of thunder, then went back to frowning at the package of diapers, looking for installation instructions. He'd put on diapers before, even disposable ones, but that was pre-tape, not to mention pre-velcro.  
  
Beside him on the grass Ruhko sat, both hands clutching a beer bottle full of milk as she guzzled frantically, eyes shut in ecstasy, a thin trickle of milk running down her chin.  
  
Logan looked at her thoughtfully as he slit the package and pulled out a diaper, wishing he hadn't panicked when he'd felt her turn over in the backpack. Feeding a baby with a beer bottle hit him as something Rogue and Storm would have his hide for. Sighing, Ruhko let the bottle fall to her lap, then opened her eyes and gave a massive belch.  
  
"Nice." Logan frowned at her.  
  
She looked back innocently, sucking her tongue, then held out her hand and babbled hopefully. Logan gave her a big peice of jerky, then picked her up and lay her in front of him. There was nothing on the diaper package to tell him how they were supposed to go, but now that he'd looked at one they didn't need that much explaining.  
  
Ruhko chewed on her meal happily, making little murmuring and smacking sounds, as he pulled the little velcro things up around her tummy and pressed them down. One thing he could say about the kid for sure, she sure enjoyed her food. Picking up the contented baby, he looked her over automatically for any sign of injury, then stuffed her, jerky and all, into the backpack.  
  
"Now then. I gotta find that other kid." He looked around. "Chuck?"  
  
-She's just approaching the town,- came the Professor's mental voice.  
  
"Where?" Logan sniffed the air, smelling ozone and rain, there was a thunderstorm coming.  
  
Kaboom!  
  
There was a thunderstorm right on top of him. He cursed as the clouds suddenly let loose buckets. "Not now, Chuck, I gotta get outta the rain." He quickly pushed the bike into the shelter of a deadfall, then squeezed in beside it, scowling. It was bad enough getting caught in a storm. Getting caught in a storm in perforated clothing was unspeakable.  
  
Ruhko snuggled close to his back through the leather of the pack, and a slight smile twitched the corners of his mouth. She was pretty cute when she was being good. And the way she looked at him....  
  
Crud, he was starting to sound like Storm when she got around babies.  
  
-Logan, she's very near to you. Only a few yards away to your left.- He stuck his head out into the blinding wet, but couldn't see or smell anything, all that lay in that direction, he remembered, was a scrubby looking aspen that had come up out of the shelter of the other trees.  
  
He jumped as lightening hit the ground somewhere to his right, the claws on both his hands shooting out, then winced as Ruhko did the same inside the pack. He could hear her wailing above the roar of the storm. He started to take the pack off, but then he realized that if the girl were anywhere near that lone tree she was in a lot of danger. The thing was a natural lightening rod, and he'd only met a few mutants in his life who could survive a lightening strike.  
  
Ducking swiftly out of the shelter, he ran through the falling water toward the tree. He couldn't see anything near the base of it, but.... Peering upward, eyes squinted against the rain, he made out a dark form sitting on a branch over his head.  
  
"Hey!" he bellowed. "Hey, you!"  
  
The form stirred and peered down at him, he saw red hair.  
  
"You gotta get out of this $#% tree!" he roared. "It ain't safe!" The girl in the tree drew her legs up away from him, then stood on the branch and started to climb higher.  
  
"Oh, no you don't, darlin!" Logan leapt up and snagged her by one ankle, giving a mighty yank.  
  
There was a rip and a feminine cry, then the girl landed on her back in the wet moss under the tree. Logan staggered as a sudden feeling of stupor came over him, then leaned down and put his hands on his knees to keep from falling. What had just hit him? Was the kid a telepath?  
  
Reeling, he caught hold of the tree for support, then shook his head and stood up with difficulty. "Ya gotta get away from here!" he yelled. She crouched, staring at him wide-eyed, then turned and made a break for the tree line.  
  
Cursing, Logan followed, feeling grateful when he saw her crawl under the ground-sweeping skirts of a spruce tree.  
  
"Mind if I come in?" he growled, pushing in after her. The girl started and muffled a squeak with her hands, then glared at him with angry fear.  
  
"Look. I ain't gonna hurt ya." He crouched as far away from her as he could in the small space under the tree. "I know yer a mutant. I'm one too." She blinked, then scowled, her attitude saying, 'so what?' "You're not sick a runnin' yet?" Logan smirked at her, still feeling dizzy.  
  
Her face filled with the haunted sadness that he'd seen so often on young faces that came to the School, then swiftly changed to a hard look. She lifted her head proudly.  
  
K, looked like he was going to have to use the same method he'd used on Ruhko.  
  
"Do ya want ta git outta this weather?" Her expression went angry and suspicious. He sighed. "I ain't a pervert. But I can get ya some fresh clothes and a dry place ta sleep tonight."  
  
She only stared.  
  
Logan wracked his brains for another argument to convince her. He couldn't bring up the School yet, she wasn't ready to hear about something like that in the mood she was in. He winced as Ruhko stirred, jabbing her claws into his back as she straightened up in the backpack, then winced again as she stabbed him in the shoulder. "You can't be hungry again already, kid." He tried to shake her down to the bottom of the bag, but she only started howling.  
  
"Oh, crap." He whipped the pack off and threw it open, scooping her into his arms awkwardly. "What's wrong?" Ruhko held out her little arms and howled louder, imploring him to hold her close. He did so, conscious of the older girl's curious stare as he murmured to the baby under his breath.  
  
The girl gave a voiceless, whispered laugh, then nodded.  
  
"What?" Logan frowned at her over Ruhko's fuzzy head.  
  
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny magnetic drawing pad. Giving him an amused look, she wrote swiftly and held it out to him. Logan looked, frowning, then snorted in laughter.  
  
The pad said, "Like, duh, stupid. Where's that place to sleep?" 


	5. Making a New Friend

Ice Lynx; cuz this chapter is so short I'll post two of them at once, thanks for all of your reviews!!

-Ice Lynx

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Steph woke slowly, becoming aware of something poking her closed eyes.  
  
Frowning without opening them, she turned her head and snuggled deeper into the insanely comfortable hotel bed, breathing in the smell of brand new clean pajamas as she did.  
  
"Nyononononyo," murmured a little voice near her ear, then a tiny hand was planted on the side of her stomach, followed by two heavy little knees as a heavy weight pressed her into the mattress. The weight then slid over her with a muffled 'oomph!' and the poking of her eyes resumed.  
  
Putting her hand up, she covered them and heard an intrigued coo. Chubby but powerful fingers tried to pull the hand away.  
  
Smiling, she let it drop and was rewarded with a pleased giggle from her baby tormentor. Going, "Nyononono," again, the little child put her hands over her own eyes and moved her head as though searching.  
  
Steph rolled over to her back and bunched the pillows so that she was propped up, watching the baby with wary interest. This morning she seemed to be acting like any baby her age, but last night while Steph was gorging on Chinese take out the guy, Logan, had gone to the bathroom and shut the baby out. The little one had totally spazzed, screaming and howling like a Tasmanian Devil. There were huge, splintered gashes on the door now, some of them went right through the wood.  
  
"Wagoo!" The baby pulled her hands away from her face and lunged toward her.  
  
Steph made a mock scared face and ducked, and the baby giggled again, then watched her fingers wiggling with rapt interest.  
  
"Nyonononono," she whispered, then grinned and squirmed as the wiggly fingers found her fat ribs.  
  
Her happy squeals and snarls were echoed by a startled grunt from the couch as Logan sat up and bolted to his feet, looking spooked. When he saw what Steph and the baby were doing he relaxed and turned away, scrubbing at his face with one hand. "Do you think y' kin keep her happy while I take a shower?"  
  
Steph blinked at him, then exchanged a glance with the baby, wondering what was with him. Then she realized what he'd said and reached for her slate. "It'll cost ya," she wrote.  
  
He squinted at it and nodded. "What d'ya want for breakfast? Pancakes?"  
  
She took the menu out of the drawer and looked at it, then started pointing at things rapidly.  
  
"You better not get sick," he warned as he picked up the phone. "Got a long bike ride ahead a us." She just gave him a cheesy grin and waved him toward the bathroom.


	6. The Power of Her Voice

Ruhko was not only noisy, she was messy. Steph had never seen an eater like the little girl, who eagerly grabbed the food Logan had paid for and stuffed it in her mouth. Steph enjoyed the little girl's company, and the delicious food made it even better. Ruhko was a funny kid, laughing at the slightest tickle and extremely physical, it had been impossible to keep her from climbing onto Steph's lap while eating, so now Steph's pajamas were as dirty as Ruhko.  
  
"Nyono!" Ruhko cried as Steph tried to get up. Steph wished the baby could read, she couldn't talk to her and her legs were falling asleep, plus the fact she couldn't eat much herself when Ruhko grabbed all the food out of her hand.  
  
"You two doin' alright in there?" Logan shouted from the bathroom. Steph rolled her eyes, but Ruhko replied in her own way.  
  
"BEESHA!" she shouted. Steph winced, the girl had a pair of lungs on her. But then the baby went back to grabbing more of Steph's breakfast with her chubby fingers and either squashing it for fun or shoving it into her mouth.  
  
A little bit later Logan came out, rubbing his hair with a towel and bare- chested.  
  
"You kids doin' alright?" he asked again. Steph glared at him and grabbed her slate and wrote a message.  
  
"Your kid is eating MY food, and I'm not a kid. I don't call you old fart do I?" she showed him the message and he laughed.  
  
"Sorry, bout both of yer complaints. Ruhko ain't my kid though, I found her," he replied. Steph arched an eyebrow, but Logan ignored it and asked a question that had been bothering him since he found Steph. "So why do yeh write everything down? Not a talker?" Steph wrote something on the slate and then gave it back to Logan.  
  
"Can't talk, I'd hurt you and the baby. Where are you taking me anyway?" Steph looked at him.  
  
"Hurt me?" he repeated. Steph rolled her eyes and scribbled something else.  
  
"I'm more worried about the baby then some old fart." Logan laughed again.  
  
"Alright, fair's fair. There's this place in New York called Westchester, more specifically a school." He said. The teen mouthed the word 'school' and then looked put off, shaking her head. Logan held up his hands.  
  
"No, wait. This is a special school fer mutants, run by a guy named Xavier. He's a telepath, yeh know what that is?" Steph rolled her eyes and nodded. Logan grinned and continued. "Well, he found yeh with a machine o' his and sent me teh get yeh, but only if yeh want." Logan finished and looked at the girl, who laughed her soundless laugh again. Her brown eyes looking at him almost sadly. She wrote something on her pallet and gave it to him.  
  
"How could I go to a school? I can't talk." Logan looked at her.  
  
"Xavier's taught lots o' kids to control their mutations, I'm more than sure he can help yeh." Steph still looked skeptical, but grabbed her new backpack and sorted through to pick out some clothes. Then she looked at Ruhko, who was now sticking her whole face in a large bowl of oatmeal and sighed, writing something on the pad and then dropping it on the bed, grabbing Ruhko as she tried to crawl away.  
  
"Nyoooooooooo! Nyonononono!" Ruhko screamed, but Steph was firm, picking up the baby and walking into the bathroom, setting her down in the bathtub and turning on the water. Logan looked at the message Steph had left; "Ruhko is filthy, I'll clean her up, but only because you obviously don't know anything about taking care of kids. Am I right?" Logan looked closer and noticed "Typical man" was scribbled in a corner.  
  
"Yer a bit opinionated, huh?" Logan asked. Steph turned around and glared at him, then turned back to the struggling Ruhko and removed her diaper, taking a wash cloth and gently beginning to wash away the food all over the baby. Ruhko laughed as the cloth tickled her sides and splashed, sending a wave of warm water over Steph, who sneezed and smiled.  
  
"Yer right, I don't know how t' take care o' babies, I guess I'll leave that t' you," Logan laughed. Steph whipped her long red hair around, stood up, and slammed the bathroom door shut. Logan shook his head at the closed door, peering through one of the holes. "I ken still see yeh!" he called. A moment later a towel was stuffed through, and Ruhko's insane giggles were muffled slightly.  
  
After a while in the tub Steph began to see a baby again, and not a mush- monster. Ruhko, however, seemed less pleased at the idea of being clean. Steph gulped when out of Ruhko's pudgy wrist three very sharp, very dangerous claws appeared and Ruhko tried to fend Steph off with them. Steph, however, was not going to be put off by a baby's claws, and kept trying to dodge them until Ruhko got one lucky cut, right across Steph' wrist.  
  
"Ow!" Steph yelped. She stared at her bleeding hand and stumbled over to the sink, finding enough bandages to cover the cut she hastily bandaged it. Then she clasped a hand over her mouth and looked at Ruhko worriedly, but Ruhko seemed extremely happy that she had heard something besides her own voice and water. Steph stared at the baby for a moment and then, for reasons unknown to her, decided to go with the gut.  
  
"Ruhko?" Steph said quietly. Ruhko giggled.  
  
"Gok!" she replied.  
  
"Ruhko?" Steph said a bit louder. This could not be happening! Thoughts flashed through Steph's mind. What if she had been cured? What if it was something else that made everyone else Steph talked to pass out? Excitement shot through Steph, and she suddenly needed to try out her voice on Logan.  
  
"You ok for a sec Ruk?" Step asked. The baby grinned at her, and Steph took that as a yes. Leaping to her feet Steph raced to the door and threw it open. Logan looked up, startled.  
  
"LOGAN!!!" Steph screamed, leaping forward. But he seemed to be hit by some unseen force and was immediately thrown back a couple feet and collapsed in a heap. In the bathroom Ruhko started crying, and Steph immediately closed her mouth. Hurrying over to Logan she was relieved to find the man still breathing, and she dragged him out on the floor and hurriedly put a few pillows under his head, then went back to the bathroom and lifted Ruhko out of the water, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her.  
  
"Oh, baby, you ok?" Steph said, hugging her close. Ruhko snuggled up into the crevice of Steph's neck. "I'm sorry, so sorry! Shh..." Hugging her new friend close Steph went into the other room and tried to make Logan more comfortable. After she did all she could she sat on the sofa, hugged Ruhko a little tighter, and cried. 


	7. Doubts and Fears

Logan felt like he was swimming upward through syrup, everything felt numb and fuzzy.  
  
Then the fuzziness disappeared and he could have screamed at the lancing pain that shot through his head from temple to temple. His healing factor continued to work and by and by he became aware of something soft under his head. Soft? He had been sitting on the couch, watching TV till Steph had bolted out of the bathroom and screamed his name.  
  
Screamed his name??!! Crap, what if something had happened to the kid? Or to Ruhko?  
  
Growling, he struggled to a sitting position and glared around, trying to get coordinated enough to get his claws out.  
  
Alright, he didn't see or smell any danger.... He turned toward a soft, rhythmic hiccupping sound and saw Steph sitting on the couch with Ruhko snuggled in her arms, crying silently but stormily.  
  
"Crap...." He staggered to his feet. "Whasamatter, kid? Did one of you get hurt? Kid?" He put a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off angrily.  
  
"Hey," he went to a knee in front of her, trying to see her face. "What's wrong?"  
  
She stared at him bleakly and rocked Ruhko, who was asleep.  
  
Scowling, he pushed himself shakily to his feet and staggered over to the bed. Coming back with her slate, he dropped it in her lap. "What's wrong?"  
  
She just frowned and went on rocking.  
  
"Look, if you don't #$% start talking...." He stopped in surprise as his claws finally got the message and came out. "Whoops! &%$!" Steph's eyes widened as she stared at the points two inches from her nose, then she glanced up at Logan and picked up the slate.  
  
I did start talking she wrote. That's why you nearly died just now.  
  
"Did I?" He retracted his claws and rubbed the back of his neck. "I feel hungover. Is that all that's wrong?"  
  
She gave him a 'you are too stupid to live, old man' look and scowled, writing again.  
  
Look, I can't go to your stupid school. I'd end up killing someone for real.  
  
Logan scowled right back at her. "Darlin' any one'a us could end up killin' someone fer real. There's one guy I know who can't even open his eyes without blowing holes in things. Big holes. N' a little girl about the same age as you," he ignored her scowl. "Who can't even touch people or she sucks the life outta 'em. So don't go tellin' me y'can't go ta the school just 'cause ya'd end up killin' someone."  
  
She gave a snort of fury and wrote. Oh yeah, you know so %$# much. $#!% and leave me alone.  
  
He read the angry words, his own anger draining away. "No," he said softly. "I don't know everythin'. I don't even know who I am. Just a name...." He sat back on his heels and popped out the claws on his right hand, looking at them mournfully. "At least you know who yer parents were, y'know if ya had a family growin' up." He put the claws away and stood up, walking to the outside door. "No, I don't know nothin'." 


	8. Belonging

Steph stared as Logan left, her heart constricting in panic. He wasn't going to just leave her with Ruhko.... She remembered how he'd said that he'd found the baby. Then his words came back to her, and his sadness. No past. She'd almost welcome something like that sometimes, to not remember the angry words and the rejection.... And he'd still wanted to know what she had to say, even after she'd nearly killed him.  
  
Cursing to herself, she got up and peered through the peephole at the empty hallway, then opened the door and walked toward the nearest exit. Heart in her throat, she peered around the corner and saw him through the glass, shoulders hunched as he smoked a cigar, staring darkly into space.  
  
She nearly dropped Ruhko in relief, then started cursing again. She'd fended for herself for a long time, she didn't need to kiss up to some grouchy old fart with freaky hair.  
  
Yeah, that was just it. She didn't need to kiss up to anyone. And he liked it better when she told him off.  
  
Ruhko squeaked and put her claws out and Steph made a squeak of her own and booked it back to the room, where she hastily set the baby down on the bed. No way did she want to get cut again. Ruhko lifted her head, frowning puzzledly, then sniffed the air and whimpered. Crawling off the bed before Steph could stop her, she toddled to the bathroom door and peered in. Finding it empty, she whimpered more loudly and began to search the entire suite.  
  
Steph stared helplessly, not sure what to do, as the baby's whimpers turned to wails, and the little one sobbed hysterically as she made another sweep.  
  
Finally, Ruhko turned and gave Steph such a look of betrayal that she wanted to scream, then sat down, threw back her head, and howled like a wolf pup.  
  
"Ruhko, no!" Steph found her voice and knelt beside the little one. "Stop it! Someone's gonna hear you."  
  
She tried putting her hand over Ruhko's mouth, but ended up bleeding again as tiny sharp teeth closed through the meaty part of her thumb. "Ouch!!! $#!%!!!! #$%#!!!! Shut the $#!%! up, kid, the #$%! humans are gonna hear you!" The door burst open, causing her to jump and whirl, hands clenched, but it was only Logan.  
  
He went to his knees so fast that he skidded on the carpet, grabbing Ruhko up and holding her to his chest. The frightened howling stopped instantly as the baby hiccuped and snuggled against him, whimpering like a puppy.  
  
"Shh," he murmured into her curls. "I'm here. Don' cry. I won't leave yeh again. Shh." Gently rubbing her neck, he began to murmur in what sounded like Japanese.  
  
Steph looked away and cursed at herself mentally, poor baby. The kid belonged with Logan, there was no doubt about that. She might be better off alone anyway, kinda hard to fly with a baby clawing you every five minutes. She looked at Logan, who was still whispering to the now sleeping infant. The man, however freaky he was, was obviously already extremely protective of that kid. It made Steph lonely looking at the pair. Despite her tough attitude Steph often wished for someone who was like that, someone who would protect her from the hateful comments and painful transitions to life as a mutant.  
  
"What happened?" Logan demanded. Steph looked at the wall, fighting back a rogue tear that was trying to come up. Grabbing her pad she jotted down 'You left, the kid freaked. Your fault.' and then threw it at Logan.  
  
"Why didn't yeh pick her up?" Logan demanded, tossing it back.  
  
'I paid for your screw up, now you take care of the brat'. She held up her bleeding hand and glared, shoving away the tear. Who cares about some little devil and an old man? Let them grow up father and daughter, she thought angrily, I don't need anyone.  
  
Logan's eyes widened slightly. He was on his feet and had her wrist in his hand before she had time to move away, examining the bite closely. Dragging her into the bathroom, he stuffed Ruhko into his jacket and zipped it partly, then turned on the sink and started running water over the wound.  
  
"I don't have any disinfectant," he muttered, looking worried, then looked around the corner at the little fridge that hummed next to the desk. "Do yeh think yeh can take the sting if I pour whisky on it?" Steph stared at him wordlessly, her anger warring other feelings as she struggled to understand the look on his hairy face.  
  
"Hey!" He shook her slightly, brow furrowing further. "Don't go freaky on me, kid. Are you alright?" Steph still stared, her eyes wide, fiercely fighting back tears.  
  
"Steph?" He let go of her hand and shook her shoulder slightly. "Are you gonna faint?" The use of her name was too much. Despite herself her face crumpled and she turned away, tears running down her cheeks. How long has it been since anyone called me by name?  
  
"Hey," he said, turning her around tentatively and putting an arm around her shoulders. "Hey. It's okay. Everything's gonna be okay." There was a sudden pounding on the door and he cursed and let her go. "Keep your hand under the water." She watched as he cracked the door open cautiously, claws on his hidden hand unsheathed.  
  
"Yeah?" he demanded gruffly.  
  
"The manager says that she heard screaming and howling in here," said a male voice. "Is everything alright?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Would you mind if we looked around, just to make sure?"  
  
Logan glanced down at the destroyed bathroom door, and Steph grabbed her backpack and sat it in front of the mess. Then she realized that he was looking at her, asking her silently if she was alright with the mounties coming in. She nodded and put her hand back under the water, watching as the two tall, rather handsome men walked in and poked around a little bit.  
  
"Your kids?" asked the younger one.  
  
"Yeah," said Logan again, zipping his jacket a little higher.  
  
"So what was all the noise?" asked the older mountie, leaning against the doorjamb sociably.  
  
"I went out fer a smoke." Logan leaned back and glanced at Steph's hand. "The little one woke up n' found me gone. Bit the big one pretty good."  
  
"That was a lot of noise for a sibling disagreement," said the mountie skeptically.  
  
Logan shrugged. "Wait'll the baby gets older."  
  
Steph snorted and turned the water off, pressing the sides of the wound together inconspicuously.  
  
The older mountie looked at her, his eyes taking in her slightly unusual colouring. Then he smiled. "I've got a daughter about your age. What's your name?" She blinked at him mutely, then looked at her pad where it lay on the floor.  
  
"She can't talk," said Logan.  
  
"Oh." The constable seemed to shrink into himself a little in embarrassment. "Sorry." She cracked a grin, enjoying his discomfort despite herself.  
  
"Well, ah, I guess we'd better get going, eh, Jordan?" he said to his partner. "It was nice meeting you folks. And try to keep it down, okay?"  
  
"Yeah, we'll do that," said Logan smoothly, closing the door as they left.  
  
Then he turned back to Steph. "Let me see." He took her hand and examined it. "Crap, this is gonna need stitches. How tough are you?" She looked at him thoughtfully, her chin quivering a bit as she remembered the hug he'd given her. Then she reached down for her pad, her face breaking out in a rotten grin as she wrote.  
  
-I can take it if you can, old man.- 


	9. On the Road

Ice Lynx; Thank you so much for all the reviews, we do enjoy getting them!

giveGodtheGlory; yay we got good reviews!

Ice Lynx; Don't forget to review more, makes me post faster cuz i'm happy! lol. thanks again!

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Logan braced the damaged door against the dumpster and glanced around, then popped his claws and shredded it into kindling, tossing the pieces onto the trash in the bin. Dusting his hands, he turned and looked at Steph, who was laughing at him soundlessly.  
  
He shook his head with an answering grin. Darn kid. She and Ruhko were a perfect pair. "Let's go and get paid up." He boosted the lump in his backpack and walked around to the office, Steph striding beside him.  
  
The manager looked at the money he handed to her, frowning as she counted. "You gave me too much. It's only seventy-five a night. One night."  
  
"The bathroom door got broken," said Logan, sticking an unlit cigar in his mouth and chewing it.  
  
"It won't cost this much to fix."  
  
"Darlin' that door ain't gettin' fixed. Yer gonna haveta replace it."  
  
She looked at him skeptically. "What did you do to it?"  
  
"Broke it." He grinned. "Kin I get a receipt?"  
  
She shook her head in exasperation and put the money into the till, handing him a slip of paper in return. "Have a nice day and don't forget to stay at Comfort Inn next time you come through."  
  
"Yeah, I'll do that." Logan stuck the receipt in his wallet and stuffed it into his hip pocket, then slid his thumb under the left hand backpack strap and turned to go, chomping his cigar thoughtfully.  
  
He led Steph to the bike and handed her the helmet, then sat on it and kicked it into life, pausing to light the cigar for a few puffs while she got her hair sorted out. He turned when she thumped him on the shoulder. "Yeah?"  
  
She held up her slate. Where's your helmet?  
  
He snorted. "Don't need one. My skull's unbreakable metal."  
  
You going to tell the mounties that?  
  
He scowled. "I don't have another one anyway, and there's no where ta buy one in this one horse town. So shut up and get on if yer comin'."  
  
She narrowed her eyes at him and made a rude gesture with her hand, then sat on the bike behind him, pressed up against Ruhko, who wiggled slightly and sighed in her sleep.  
  
"Ouch, watch yer legs." He put the bike in gear and roared out of the lot and down the street, leaving the town and a chapter of his life behind.  
  
==============================================  
  
(Two days later)  
  
Logan rubbed the back of his neck and adjusted his grip on Ruhko so he wouldn't drop her as he carried her under one arm like a football. "You got any gumdrops left from that bag Rogue sent ya?"  
  
Steph shook her head mutely, looking at the truck stop they were standing outside of as she brushed the monsters out of her hair.  
  
"Did Ruhko eat 'em all, or did you get any?"  
  
Steph pointed to herself and lifted two fingers, then grinned and fluffed Ruhko's hair as the baby wiggled and giggled, waving her fat arms around. Putting her brush into her pack, she squared her shoulders and nodded.  
  
Logan turned and headed into the diner, knowing why Steph wanted to pause before she went into a place full of normal humans. If he could have avoided bringing the kids into the place he would have, but they needed food and a bathroom, and this was the first place they'd seen in miles. He wished he'd brought more dried meat when he'd set out from the mansion, but he'd had no way of knowing at the time that he was going to have to feed a baby carnivore who felt it her sovereign right to eat every ten minutes.  
  
The baby carnivore stopped giggling as they went through the door, eyes widening as the rush of smells hit her. She gave a little cry of distress and turned, climbing up him till her face was hidden in the crook of his neck.  
  
He patted her on the bottom, then hooked his hand behind Steph's arm to lead her forward as she started to look like she was going to bolt. "C'mon, kid, don't go freaky on me. Let's go sit over by the window there."  
  
She nodded, face firming up to her usual hard#% expression as she casually moved her arm so that his hand slid away from it.  
  
He made sure she sat on the outside chair, away from the window, and sat across from her, settling Ruhko in his lap and frowning at the menu.  
  
The waitress came over cautiously, looking at Ruhko, who was patting the shiny menu as she stared into space. "Anything to drink?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll have a Bud," said Logan. "Steph?"  
  
She pointed to the Coke logo.  
  
"Coke, and a glass a' milk."  
  
"Moke!" said Ruhko, snapping back to the here and now.  
  
The waitress wrote it down. "You ready to order your food yet?"  
  
"Gimme a couplea twelve ounce steaks, rare, with spuds 'n onions." He looked at Steph's pointing finger. "N' a jumbo poutine."  
  
"'Kay." She tucked her pencil into her pocket and then hesitated. "Your kids?"  
  
"Yeah." He gave her a warning look, but she ignored it.  
  
"The baby's a mutant, isn't she?"  
  
"Ya got a problem with that?" He lowered his head, scowling.  
  
She shrugged. "Ain't my call. But some of the other customers might get ugly."  
  
"Let 'em try," he growled, taking the ketchup bottle away from Ruhko and setting it back on the table out of her reach.  
  
Her hard face softened. "Poor little doll. I didn't know it showed up so soon. Hold on a sec."  
  
Logan frowned as she walked over to the counter and reached over it, then turned and came back.  
  
"Here, you want this, honey?" She held a small stuffed tiger toward Ruhko, who frowned up at her suspiciously and growled softly. "No? Well, I'll leave it with Daddy so you can get it if you change your mind." She set it on the table with a smile and turned to get their orders.  
  
Ruhko turned and burrowed under Logan's jacket till only one leg and arm and two dark eyes showed under his arm, then babbled her angst at the world till she fell asleep.  
  
Logan ignored her and Steph's amused expression, taking his beer as the waitress brought it and sipping it absently. It was bottled, and good and cold. "We should get there tomorrow night. You want to find a motel or camp tonight?"  
  
She shrugged and turned to eye a bunch of truckers as they came into the otherwise empty diner.  
  
"Don't look at 'em, it catches their eye."  
  
She turned back to him with a glare, then grinned and took a swig of Coke as the waitress set a huge plate in front of her, the cheese and gravy oozing over the edge.  
  
Logan reached over and snagged one of her French-fries, then raised his arm as Ruhko remerged, hands already reaching for the meat. "Watch it, kid, I need that elbow! Whoah! Ahahahahah, let me help ya w' that." He gently extracted the hot steak from her grip and cut it up into bite sized pieces, ignoring Steph's laughter. "There ya go, darlin'. Yeah." He smiled despite himself, wrapping his arm around the little bit as he ate.  
  
They were just finishing up when one of the truckers passed them, heading for the toilet. The guy paused before he went in and stared hard at Ruhko, who was nodding sleepily.  
  
Logan got up, tucking her into his jacket. "Come on, Steph. Things 're gonna get stupid pretty quick."  
  
She stood, taking the toy tiger and stuffing it into her duster pocket, then following him to the counter where he threw two twenties and a ten at the waitress. "Keep the change."  
  
They'd nearly gotten out the door when one of the truckers reached out and snagged the back of Steph's coat. "Where you going so fast, sweets?"  
  
She tried to pull free, but he put an arm around her. "What's a nice little mutie like you doing in a place like this?" He put his face near hers. "You could get hurt."  
  
Then he yelped as three foot long blades suddenly flashed in front of his eyes.  
  
"Let go a my daughter while ya still can!" snarled Logan eyes gleaming feral.  
  
The guy did so, face the colour of putty.  
  
Logan stepped aside so that she could get out the door, still glaring at the bully, fighting the nearly overwhelming urge to just lose it and shred him, shred the whole bloody bunch of them.....  
  
-Logan, no!- came Charles' mental voice, but he shut it down, his eyes getting brighter.  
  
Steph jumped, her eyes widening as she looked around wildly. Then nodded and pulled on Logan's jacket, urging him to come away. He did so reluctantly, growling deep in his chest as he stared at the trucker who'd grabbed her.  
  
She got him back to the bike, still holding onto his jacket.  
  
-Logan! Get hold of yourself!- commanded Charles. -You have to leave, those men are going to come out of the diner very soon.-  
  
Logan snarled, shaking his head.  
  
-Logan, the girls could be injured. You have to take them away. Take the girls somewhere safe!-  
  
He blinked, suddenly snapping back to himself. "Oh crap. Steph, get yer helmet on."  
  
She looked at him doubtfully, then gave a sigh of relief and did so, jumping onto the back of the bike.  
  
He zipped his jacket higher and kicked the motor to life, pulling out onto the highway just as the diner door flew open.


	10. The Reason She Stays

giveGodtheGlory; You still haven't told them what Ruhko means.

Icey; Whoops. KK, here it is, if I remember correctly. If not may I be hit by a bolt of lightning and have gGtG fix it.

Ahem, Ruhko is Jappaneese looks sideways at gGtG for coaching for... Wolf Child.

Yup, that's what Ruhko means.

Uh huh.

From Both of us; Thank you so much for the reviews, they're great, here's more of out story for ya!

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Steph's head jerked up in fear towards the door, right as Logan started the bike forward.  
  
"Ah, cut it out, kid," he said, Steph could see the front of his jacket moving, and hear Ruhko's fearful squeaks at being jostled around so much.  
  
BAM! Logan cried out in pain as a bullet hit him in the arm, the trucker who shot him stopping to get another bullet as the others started to run after the bike, which swerved. There was no time to tell Logan anything, so Steph clamped her hands hard on his ears and spun her head around.  
  
She screamed. It wasn't out of fear, it was a defense and since Ruhko could listen to Steph at the moment she didn't scream anything, because Ruhko would not do well hearing her swear as much as she'd like to.  
  
The effects were instantaneous, the trucker in front dropped like a stone, but whether he was dead or merely unconscious it was hard to tell. As he fell all the other men shot hands up to their ears, but too late, they also dropped. The bike swerved, Logan groaned as another scream, human this time, sounded from inside the diner. It was the nice waitress, the stupid woman who had giving Ruhko the stuffed animal that was in Steph's pocket at the very moment.  
  
Steph saw that all of the truckers were down, most of them, if not all, were dead and Steph managed to stop herself from continuing to scream as Logan groaned and the bike spun out of control, then toppled over and throwing all three riders off into the side of the road.  
  
Steph hit the ground hard and rolled, ending up on her back she looked at the sky, her head spinning from more than the attack and the crash, her mind suddenly remembering what Logan had said.  
  
"Let go a my daughter while ya still can!" why had he said daughter? They were closer, no doubt, and Steph had posed as his daughter since they were at the first hotel, but he didn't have to say that. He could have said "Let go a her", or something, but he didn't. Steph wondered if she was stilly dizzy from the crash or if there was a meaning to the phrase, but then Logan, looking incredibly worried and clutching Ruhko to his chest stumbled up, still dizzy from Steph's scream, though the dizziness was short and his arm had already healed from the bullet.  
  
"You ok kid?" he asked, kneeling down by her. Ruhko was still, her eyes wide with terror as she softly whined and clutched Logan's shirt as tight as her chubby fingers would allow. Steph dug around in her pocket and pulled out her slate, which had somehow remained in tact.  
  
I'm good, is Ruhko alright? Logan nodded.  
  
"Jus' freaked," he said. Then he looked back at the bodies of the truckers. "That was some move you pulled." Steph looked away from them, feeling guilty about rushing into things like she had. They probably could have gotten away, and then she wouldn't be a killer now... again. Logan saw the look in her eyes and sat down beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders.  
  
"It wasn't yer fault, kid," he said, half sternly, half sadly. "Yeh did what yeh needed to, probably saved yerself and Ruhko, it was all yeh could do." He paused and Steph looked down at her feet, anywhere but the dead men. She couldn't handle that at the moment, probably couldn't ever but especially not now. "I'm proud o' ya," Logan said. Steph looked up at him and then wrote on her slate.  
  
Will your bike still work? Logan smiled and stood up.  
  
"It's been through worse. Let's get outta here before the cops show up, ya sure yer ok?" Steph nodded and got up also, with Logan's help. Then the short man picked up his bike and looked it over, grunted with satisfaction that it was in working order, and climbed on it, motioning for Steph to get on also. She was still wearing the helmet, so as soon as she was on Logan kicked it into life and started down the road again.  
  
"It might be late tonight," he called back, meaning how long until they reached the school. The school, the place he had told her allot about. She had heard the name's Ro, Jean, Rogue, Cyke, and of course, Professor Xavier already from Logan's attempts to tell her about it so she could get an idea of the place before she went. It was supposed to be a mansion, meaning huge, and have lots of runaways and cast outs like Steph there, all mutants. And, of course, it was a school.  
  
But it was full of people, and as far as Steph could tell, no one besides little Ruhko was immune to Steph's voice, and a school was full of kids, laughing, talking, yelling whispering teenagers who would greet Steph with "Hi!"'s and "Hey, me name is so'n'so, who are you?"s and then would probably think Steph stuck up or mean because she wouldn't reply, she was unable to reply, and would move off and not look at them to make that fact easier to bear.  
  
Still, she was out of luck, no bike, no home, no money for food and no way to make it in a world full of humans who would kill her immediately if they found out who she was. Plus Logan was nice to her, she couldn't just take off and get herself killed, as he had put it once. She would try the school, and probably not like it, but she wouldn't run off now and leave Logan to go figure out what to do about having a little kid, who he obviously had no idea how to take care of, and not having the kid he was supposed to bring 'Chuck'.  
  
Then Steph thought about it, hugging Logan tightly to not fall off and be run over by the other traffic on the road, and remember something. Logan had mentioned that the professor had helped a few of the students control their powers, learn how to hide them and make them stronger when they did need them, maybe he could do the same to Steph's voice. Maybe, with his help, Steph could figure out how to control it so she could talk again, sing again without everyone around her dropping like stones. That was the only other reason she would go to this school, well, those two and to make sure Logan learned how to care for Ruhko properly.  
  
Steph's hand was grabbed by the infant at that moment, and over the sounds of wind and cars Steph could hear the baby giggle as she pulled on her hand, then felt Ruhko put her little warm head on it and fall asleep after tugging it into Logan's jacket further. Maybe Logan smiled, his head looked down at the baby and Steph's hand, which was now trapped in Ruhko's little but strong hands and laid on by her head.  
  
"Keeping her happy?" Logan called back, chuckling. "Good, then she won't stick me in the sides." Steph couldn't answer, being unable to get to her writing slate and Logan not being able to drive and read anyway, but she stuck her own long fingernails into his side with her free hand, just to prove Logan couldn't completely get away with that.


	11. Homecoming

Logan felt Ruhko stir in the battered backpack as the green New England countryside flashed by and thought of the night before. He'd ended up just pulling the bike off the road and into the trees, then convinced Ruhko to stay with Steph while he went hunting. It hadn't actually been that hard, once he'd tried using wolf body language on her. At his stare and growl she'd cocked her head and whimpered, then sighed and toddled back to where Steph sat doodling on her slate.  
  
The hunt had been a welcome release. It had been so long since he just cut loose and run free. Steph hadn't been very impressed when he came back to the camp bloody and with dead Bambi over his shoulder, but she'd eaten like a wolf herself once he had a fire going and grilled some of the meat over it. She'd made pointed notes about her thoughts on his and Ruhko's meal, since he hadn't bothered to cook their portion of the venison, but he'd just grinned at her and offered her some, knowing that he'd catch %#$# for it later.  
  
Ruhko stirred again and he snapped back to the present, wondering if she was going to start complaining, it hadn't been that long since she'd eaten....  
  
Something caught his attention in the ditch and he pulled a u-turn and passed it again, then drove on a ways and stopped the bike.  
  
He put the center stand down, then took off the backpack and handed it to Steph. "Stay here. If anything happens to me run like #$%. The mansion's not that far off."  
  
She looked at him, greenish brown eyes slightly frightened, but held Ruhko close and nodded.  
  
Logan gave her shoulder a squeeze, then turned and walked back to the still form sprawled on its face in the ditch. He approached cautiously, senses at the alert, but all he smelled was blood. It was a little hard to get it turned over, but when he did he saw that it still breathed, faintly.  
  
Frowning in puzzlement, he pulled the filthy duster and shirt away from the gaping wound in the chest. What ever had caused it had hit an artery, and it was still weakly pumping blood. His hand went to the body's neck to test the pulse and felt something hard.  
  
"Freaking Genoshan slave collar." He stuck out one claw and sliced through it, ignoring the tiny shower of sparks, then threw it as far away into the long grass and black eyed susans as he could.  
  
"Alright now, Sabertooth, get yer act tagether." He stood and checked on the girls, then crouched again and watched as the wound began to close up in the larger man's chest.  
  
There was a gasp, and he jumped aside as the former Brotherhood member sat up flailing one arm in a clumsy haymaker.  
  
"Watch it, bub." He crouched again, ready to fight.  
  
Sabertooth rubbed his neck, gasping painfully, then opened his eyes and looked at him wearily. "Runt."  
  
"#$%&," responded Logan evenly.  
  
Sabertooth managed to get his legs under him and sat there staring at him. "You saved my life."  
  
"Blond moment," said Logan, his eyes going toward the girls involuntarily.  
  
Sabertooth raised his head and looked that way too, just as Ruhko made some sort of sound. When he turned back he had a strange smile on his face. "Sure, runt. Blond moment. I owe you one." Then he bounded to his feet and raced away into the trees.  
  
Logan watched him go in surprise, then jumped up himself and ran back to the bike, grabbing Ruhko's backpack and cramming her into his jacket. "Get on, Steph."  
  
She did so and he started the bike and burned a half donut on the asphalt, making 90 toward the mansion.  
  
-Slow down, Logan,- said Charles. -He isn't following you.-  
  
-You know he was there?- He slowed slightly, wincing as Steph dug her fingers into his ribs. If she ever found out he was ticklish he'd be in major trouble.  
  
-Yes, I had been about to send Storm and the team to investigate.-  
  
Logan nodded and took one hand off the handlebars to pat Ruhko soothingly. She was howling pretty loudly, he hoped he hadn't hurt her when he packed her in his jacket.  
  
After awhile her wails changed to whimpers and then to hiccups that he felt against his chest and belly, the sensation waking more of those strange feelings that had started back in the diner when that idiot had grabbed Steph.  
  
'Let go of my daughter,' he'd said, and meant it. He didn't know what Chuck would have to say about it, but in his heart Steph and Ruhko were his. If anyone didn't like it he'd just take them, and Marie, if she wanted to come, and go live somewhere else. He didn't know if he'd ever had kids before Striker had experimented on him. He remembered Mariko, back in Japan, and pushed the memory away as his eyes burned. That was the last time someone would ever get away with taking away someone he loved.  
  
The thought nearly made him pop his claws, but he restrained himself, gritting his teeth and growling deep in his chest instead.  
  
=========================================  
  
He was under control- barely- as he pulled the bike to a stop in the garage and got off, sniffing the air to make sure everything was alright.  
  
Steph took off the helmet, shaking out her wild poof of hair, eyes watchful as she reached for her brush.  
  
Logan let her collect herself, pulling Ruhko out of her hiding place and throwing the backpack (it was really finished this time) into a corner.  
  
Ruhko turned her head to look around, nostrils flaring as she read the air, then snarled and climbed up him till she was hanging off his back with her arms around his neck.  
  
"You comfortable?" He tried to turn his head and see her.  
  
She rested her chin on his shoulder and growled softly, nose wrinkled and eyes watchful.  
  
"Nobody's gonna hurt ya, kid." He put a hand under her feet to support her, then unconsciously put the other arm around Steph's shoulders and gently lead her forward and through the door.  
  
There was a clatter of feet and Rogue skidded to a stop, her wide smile changing to confusion when she saw how he was standing with Steph.  
  
"Rogue, this's Steph," he said. "She liked those gumdrops ya sent her. The two she got ta eat, anyhow."  
  
Rogue looked at the younger and taller girl thoughtfully, then smiled. "Hi. Ah'll show yah yoh room if yah want. Yah'll be sharin' wit' Theresa."  
  
Steph looked at Logan and he nodded, but then put his hand out to pull Rogue in and hug her.  
  
She hugged back, shoulders slumping slightly in relief, then looked cross- eyed at Ruhko as the baby wriggled and sniffed noses with her. "Friendly little thang."  
  
"Not really," he said, low-voiced. "But she kin see yer part a' th' pack. Don't give Steph a hard time, she can't talk back ta ya."  
  
Rogue blinked, then nodded. "Gotcha."  
  
He grinned and let her go, then turned to Steph, who had watched the whole exchange uncertainly. "Go on. I'll come and check on ya in a few minutes."  
  
She narrowed her eyes at him, but then went, slinging her pack over her other shoulder so that it didn't knock into Rogue.  
  
"Logan."  
  
He turned toward Storm's voice. "Hey, 'Ro."  
  
She was looking at Ruhko. "Who's this?" She smiled, blue eyes shining.  
  
"I named her Ruhko." He put up a warning hand. "But ya better keep yer distance, she don't take ta strangers."  
  
"She had no problem with Rogue." Ororo frowned at him and took a step forward, causing Ruhko to scramble over Logan's shoulder and into his arms.  
  
"'Ro...." Logan lowered his head warningly, but her hand touched Ruhko's back.  
  
All #%% seemed to break loose, and Storm stepped back in shock as the baby screamed and snarled and spat like the Tasmanian Devil, her claws causing Logan considerable damage as she tried to get into the safety of his jacket.  
  
She finally crawled in head first, and Logan was left bleeding heavily and looking at Ororo reproachfully.  
  
"I'm sorry," whispered Storm, hand over her mouth.  
  
Logan shook his head and clenched his jaw, then glanced up to where Steph hung over the banister, eyes watchful.  
  
"Can...can I get her a bottle?" offered Ororo.  
  
Logan's expression changed from reproach to guilt as Steph sniggered soundlessly from her perch. Sheepishly, he pulled the beer bottle out of his jacket pocket.  
  
Ororo looked at it puzzled, then looked at him questioningly.  
  
He quirked one eyebrow at her and she suddenly understood.  
  
"You were feeding a baby from a beer bottle?!"  
  
"Well, I didn't exactly have time fer much shoppin' darlin'"  
  
She just gave him a scathing look and turned on her heel to walk to the kitchen.  
  
-It's so freaking good to be home.- 


	12. Not Her Best Side

Steph was wondering what was going on when Logan suddenly turned the bike around and then slowed down, coming to a stop and jumping off the bike. He turned to her.  
  
"Stay here. If anything happens to me run like #$%. The mansion's not that far off." Logan walked away, leaving Ruhko in Steph's arms and walking over to the ditch by the road. Steph looked after him, worriedly looking briefly in the direction of the mansion and hugging Ruhko to her chest tightly. If Logan told her that it must mean whatever was lying on the ground was extremely dangerous, if he wasn't sure if he couldn't handle it.  
  
-Don't say that to him, he'd deny that and tell you he could handle anything by himself.– Steph jumped slightly but then realized it must be the telepath Logan had talked about, Chuck. Steph continued to gaze as Logan muttered something and then unsheathed a claw, then lowered it on the large thing, it must be a man, and muttered some more.  
  
-You're the professor,- Steph thought, wondering if he could hear.  
  
-Yes.-  
  
-And I can talk to you, in my head.-  
  
-Yes.-  
  
-Alright then, will you give me directions if that big lump kills Logan?- Steph asked.  
  
-Nothing is going to kill Logan, but if you need to get away I will help you, don't worry.-  
  
-I'm not.- The lump sat up, revealing it was a man, with wild blond hair and mean black eyes. He and Logan were talking when all of the sudden the guy got up and ran off, Logan looking slightly startled and then turning around, marching back and demanding that Steph got on the bike. She did as she was told, for fear of the guy attacking them, he looked like he could take even Logan for a good fight. The professor wasn't talking to her anymore, so as Logan got on the bike Steph thought about last night's rather interesting meal, and dug her nails into Logan's side again, she suspected he was ticklish but would have to try it when he wasn't wearing a jacket. Then she wondered how long until they reached the school.  
  
It wasn't long at all, they arrived at the gates moments later and drove through. The mansion was huge. Bigger than Steph had thought, and probably full of more kids than she could remember in a month. And the funny thing was they were all mutants, like her. Steph's thoughts wandered to the people Logan talked about, the guy with the laser beam eyes and the untouchable girl.  
  
They reached the garage and Logan parked the motorcycle among the many cars and SUVs and he and Steph got off, Steph taking off her helmet and trying to tame her mass of orange hair. Logan put a very suspicious-looking Ruhko on his shoulder and tried to calm her down, making Steph laugh silently behind him. It was funny to see the gruff daddy take care of the baby. Then, after Steph had put her brush away Logan startled her by putting his arm around her shoulder and directing her inside the building. She didn't shrug off the shoulder or even look at the Canadian, she didn't want him to know that it meant a lot to her when he did things like that.  
  
As soon as they walked in a girl with brown hair that had a platinum streak in it rushed up, grinning and then looking slightly confused about whatever for a moment  
  
"Rogue, this's Steph," Logan said, and Steph glanced at him, then continued her "She liked those gumdrops ya sent her. The two she got ta eat, anyhow." Steph didn't smile, but Rogue did.  
  
"Hi. Ah'll show yah yoh room if yah want. Yah'll be sharin' wit' Theresa." Theresa? Who was she? Steph didn't move or take her eyes off Rogue as Logan dropped his arm from Steph's shoulders and hugged Rogue. That kind of hurt, but then Steph mentally smacked herself. Not only was she getting closer to Logan than anyone she had in a long time, but now she was jealous that he had other people to see in his own home? Rogue knew Logan long before Steph had, and was probably closer to; she could talk to him.  
  
"Friendly little thang." Rogue commented, seeing Ruhko, who was looking suspiciously at her. Then they baby ignored Rogue and continued too hold Logan's neck. Lucky thing, Steph thought, she gets that all the time because she was the baby- another mental slap. Steph was sounding like an older sister now, and Ruhko was not her baby sister nor was Logan her father, Steph's father was probably trying to erase the memory of Steph from his mind and paying more attention to Steph's older brother.  
  
"Not really," Logan said, keeping his voice low, "But she kin see yer part a' th' pack. Don't give Steph a hard time, she can't talk back ta ya." Steph bristled slightly at these remarks, she didn't need Logan to tell Rogue about her voice or tell the older girl to ease up on Steph because of it. But Rogue only nodded and looked at Steph again, all smiles. Steph wasn't sure she liked Rogue that much.  
  
"Gotcha," Rogue said. Logan looked at Steph, who was glad she was good at keeping her expression in 'uncaring' mode.  
  
"Go on. I'll come and check on ya in a few minutes." Like she needed him, Steph thought resentfully, slinging her pack over her shoulder. She didn't look back at him as Rogue started to leave, though Steph didn't pause she listened intently as another woman, who had skin that was not half as dark as Steph's or Ruhko's, but white hair that was as odd as Steph's, walked up to Logan. Steph didn't hear much except Logan warning the woman he called Ro away from the baby as Steph climbed the stairs, but when she reached the top she suddenly heard some screeching, growling, and grunt of pain.  
  
Spinning around Steph accidentally hit Rogue with her bag, knocking the girl to the floor, but as she couldn't apologize she turned to see what had happened. Rogue's surprised shout of "Hey!" was lost in the other noise. Steph caught a glimpse of Ruhko as the baby scurried into Logan's jacket, and Logan had some gaping wounds that was obviously from Ruhko's claws. 'Ro' was looking horrified and had a hand over her mouth, staring at Logan's wounds as he looked slightly ticked. Steph smiled, he and Ruhko were a match.  
  
"I'm sorry," Ro said. Steph laughed evilly, though careful to not make a sound, but Logan looked up at her anyways. "Can... can I get her a bottle?" Ro asked. Steph grinned as Logan hesitantly pulled out the beer bottle. Then he got the lecture from the woman who wouldn't listen when he told her the baby was temperamental. Rogue got up and looked at Steph with slightly narrowed eyes. Then she seemed to remind herself that Steph was new and what Logan said and smiled, though Steph didn't smile back. This girl was not getting on her best side.  
  
As Rogue walked down the hall she tried to talk to Steph, who just looked at her, her brown and green eyes telling the older teen to be quiet, but Rogue didn't take the hint. No, she wasn't doing anything to impress Steph in the slightest way. 


	13. Family Man

Thank you so much everyone!!! The reviews are great, we really love reading them.

Ice Lynx; And yes, Angel LeeAnn, Steph is a brat, lol.

IL; And I promise that I will not wait a rediculous amount of time to re-post ever again, winces. And sorry to those who had to wait.

Thank you everyone again!

-Ice Lynx and giveGodtheGlory

------------------------------------

Steph sat on the bed Rogue indicated, not listening to the older girl's talk as she studied the rich furnishings of the room. She'd never seen anything like them except in pictures of castles and suchlike. And now she was going to live in a place like that. Freaky.  
  
"Bobby! Ah tole yah Ah didn' wanna see yoh revoltin' face agiahn! Git awhay from meh!"  
  
The sound of something hitting the wall on the other side of the hallway, followed by the sound of feet scurrying away, snapped Steph back to the present and she looked up in time to see Rogue glower down the hall and then turn back.  
  
"Stainkin' pervert!" The Southerner was muttering as she headed for the chair at what Steph presumed was going to be her desk.  
  
Steph couldn't resist. She stuck out her foot.  
  
Rogue didn't see and tripped quite beautifully, only she fell right on top of Steph, who threw up her hands to protect herself. One hand came in contact with the older girl's face.  
  
Steph cried out involuntarily as she felt something sucking the life out of her, then everything went black.  
  
She opened her eyes as someone propped her against the end of her bed, and looked up blearily into Rogue's frightened face.  
  
"What's yoh powah?" asked the older girl urgently.  
  
Steph stared at her woozily, trying to figure out what she'd said, then clumsily pulled out her slate and wrote. "My voice kills."  
  
Rogue put a hand over her mouth, going pale. "Yoh immune, right?"  
  
Steph nodded, too wiped to write anymore.  
  
"That's good," whispered Rogue. "'Cause Ah just absohrbed yah. Ah got all yoh powahs...'n all yoh memories."  
  
Steph scowled. "What's...you're power?" She blinked at how weak her voice sounded.  
  
"Ah absohrb folk's life fohrce. If they a mutant Ah absorb they powahs too." Rogue's head bowed, her face shadowed with guilt. "Ah'm untouchable. 'N now Ah'm unheahrable, too. Ah'm sorry, Steph."  
  
===============================================  
  
Logan pulled Ruhko out of his jacket and handed her the bottle. "Thanks, 'Ro." He frowned at a muted cry from upstairs, wondering if it had anything to do with the way Bobby had just come flying down the stairs.  
  
Shrugging, he looked down as the baby growled softly and chewed on the nipple, black eyes watching Ororo suspiciously.  
  
"Where did you find her?" asked the white-haired woman gently, carefully keeping her distance.  
  
"In a wolf den over by Striker's base." Logan poked Ruhko's belly and was rewarded by a growly chuckle and an arched back.  
  
"Her mutation is very similar to yours," said Ororo softly.  
  
"Yeah, but she's no relation. I'd smell it if she was." He lowered his head without thinking and snuffled Ruhko's hair, getting punched in the nose for his pains. "What?" He smirked down at the baby. "You want a piece of me? Huh?" The smirk changed to a wide grin as Ruhko responded to his tickling fingers with a bloodcurdling scream of glee and a dribble of milk from the corner of her mouth.  
  
Then he remembered that Ororo was watching and looked up with a warning scowl, to see her watching him in wonder.  
  
"Have you ever had children, Logan?" she asked.  
  
He shook his head. "No idea," he said shortly, unwilling to mention Mariko. "I'm going to make sure those two don't kill each other."  
  
Throwing Ruhko briskly over his shoulder, he went up the steps and down the hall, following his nose to the room that held Steph.  
  
Something was wrong.  
  
He paused and tested her scent again, forehead furrowed, then hurried forward and looked through the open door, his eyes widening as he saw both girls on the floor at the foot of the bed, Rogue weakly trying to pull herself up on a chair, and Steph looked barely conscious.  
  
He hurried forward, falling to his knees between them. "What happened?" he barked, looking at Rogue.  
  
She put her hand over her mouth, shaking her head mutely, then turned her face away and looked at the floor.  
  
He turned to Steph and saw what was written on her slate. "Crap, were you two fightin'?"  
  
Rogue shook her head without looking at him, Steph just closed her eyes and seemed to drift off.  
  
"Crap." He put his hand to her neck and was reassured by the strong beat of her pulse, but still unnerved by the clamminess of her skin. Letting Ruhko slide to the floor, he scooped the black teen up gently and stood. "Marie, can ya walk?"  
  
She nodded uncertainly and tried to get to her feet, falling back twice before she succeeded and then swaying on her feet, green eyes losing focus.  
  
Logan cursed. Whatever Rogue said, the two of them were clearly suffering the effects of each others' ability. "Come on, let's get ta th' infirmary. Marie, y' hold my arm."  
  
It was a long, slow trip, punctuated by such things as Ruhko falling down the stairs and nearly giving him a heart attack, but they finally got down to the medical lab, where the new red haired doctor sat stuffing his freckled face with Twinkies.  
  
"Oh my stars and garters!" He bounded to his face with an agility that belied his football player build. "What happened, friend Logan?"  
  
Logan growled, setting Steph carefully on one of the tables and then going to Rogue and helping her up onto another. "They used their powers on each other."  
  
"And what is this fair damsel's power?" Hank asked, hand poised over Steph's arm.  
  
"She puts people out with 'er voice." Logan started and looked down as Ruhko started climbing his legs, using her claws as crampons. "Sheesh, kid, ya tryin' ta chop me down?" He scooped her up, wishing he hadn't left his jacket upstairs.  
  
"Dabo grumlea beesha," babbled Ruhko seriously, her eyes on Steph's face. "Nyonyonyo."  
  
Steph opened her eyes uncertainly as Hank began checking her out, her eyes searching till they found Logan. Seeing him looking at her she gave him a ghost of her usual glare, then blinked and looked confused as Rogue buried her face in her pillow and started making choked hiccupping sounds.  
  
"Good grief." Logan walked between the tables and rubbed her back. "Shh, it's gonna be okay. It always fades, remember?"  
  
Rogue shook her head, her face red from the effort of making no sound.  
  
Steph coughed as Hank looked down her throat and Logan turned, feeling stretched. -#$%, how the #$%'s a guy supposed ta deal with all three kids needin' him at once?-  
  
-Carefully,- came Charles' dry response.  
  
-Chuck!- He brightened, dropping Ruhko onto Rogue's table. -What's wrong with Marie?-  
  
-She's frightened by the fact that she absorbed Steph to the point that the power transfer is likely permanent.-  
  
"Crap!" He looked down at the auburn-haired girl, then turned back to Steph. "Just as soon as you two are feelin' better I wanna know exactly what went on up there."  
  
She opened her eyes again and blinked at him unfocusedly, then slowly bent her hand into a rude gesture.  
  
"She's gonna be okay, Hank." Logan glared at her, but spoiled the effect by pushing some of her hair away from her face.  
  
"Dabla bobdle moke greesha bleuck," said Ruhko from where she sat happily on Rogue's back. "Gropa moobla bleurndo."  
  
Logan turned to look at her just in time to see her reach out a pudgy hand and pat the Southern girl on the cheek.  
  
"No!" he bellowed in horror, snatching the baby away as she screamed with surprise and fright.  
  
Logan held her close for a few minutes, struggling to get himself under control as Hank stared at him mutely, then opened his eyes and looked down at her.  
  
She stared back, her face streaked with tears, the claws on one hand unsheathed. She seemed perfectly fine.  
  
Frowning, he looked at Rogue, who was staring at Ruhko in wonder.  
  
"She touched you, didn' she?" he asked.  
  
Rogue nodded, still staring at the baby.  
  
"And yet she is unaffected," marveled Hank softly, brown eyes bright. "Further research is evidently called for."  
  
"Ferget it, Beast. She don't let anybody touch her except me 'n Steph. 'N Rogue." Logan set Ruhko back on Rogue's bed, his hands poised to snatch her away again if something happened.  
  
Ruhko looked up at him with a look reminiscent of Steph and patted Rogue's cheek again, then leaned over and sniffed her, little nose pressed to Rogue's cheek.  
  
"Could it be because Rogue is in a weakened state?" wondered Hank. He reached out and touched a fingertip to the Southern girl's cheek, only to gasp and go stiff.  
  
Logan pulled him away and let him fall onto the floor. "Dumb#%."  
  
Rogue took a pencil out of her pocket and wrote on the sheet. "#$%, now I want a Twinkie."  
  
Logan snorted and turned back to Steph, who was looking at him mournfully. "How you feelin'?"  
  
She made a soundless gagging motion and he nodded and kicked Hank. "Hey, wake up."  
  
The beefy redhead groaned and sat up, his hair standing on end from his trip to the floor. "So much for that theory."  
  
"Yer gonna haveta be more careful with yer experiments." Logan pulled out a slightly mashed cigar and put it in his mouth, smirking. "Gonna do somethin' permanent ta yerself one 'a these days."  
  
"Er. Yes." Hank stood and blinked owlishly at Steph through his lopsided glasses. "She seems to be unharmed save for the weakness, but I would like to keep her here overnight to be sure."  
  
Steph gave him a dirty look but he was oblivious as he went over to Rogue and began to peer into her eyes.  
  
"Interesting. Fascinating.... The same affect as consuming an unhealthy dose of alcohol."  
  
Logan looked up, remembering his hungover feeling after Steph had yelled his name. "Ya mean destroyed brain cells?"  
  
"Yes, though she'll recover fully, I should think. The dosage doesn't seem to have been great enough for permanent damage. Still, I would like to observe her overnight."  
  
Logan stared at him, thinking thoughts of mayhem, his skin crawling from being in the lab, then sighed and pulled a chair between the tables and sat on it.  
  
"What are you doing?" asked Hank puzzledly.  
  
"Spending the night." Logan's glower forbade further question or comment.  
  
"I...see." Hank turned away, returning to his experiment and his Twinkies.  
  
Logan smirked after him, then looked at the two girls and the baby laying on either side of him and sighed. What had he gotten himself into?


	14. Finding Food

Steph hated this place, called the med bay. She had woken up and tried to rise when Logan pushed her back, growled at her, and then sat back in the seat. Had he really spent the night there? She didn't think him serious when she was drifting out again, hearing the answer to the red haired man's question. Now she was awake, and Logan told her it was morning, she had been out all night.  
  
As soon as Logan leaned over to check on Rogue Steph sat up again, and though she still felt a bit dizzy she felt alright. Logan turned back around.  
  
"What are ya doin up?" He snapped, though Steph thought it was less of a snap and more of a real question. Steph looked around her for her writing slate and spotted it on a table near a box of Twinkies, but before she could get up to get it Logan had grabbed it and walked back over.  
  
"Nice try, yer staying down till that freckled nut says yer a hundred percent fine," the Canadian said, handing her the slate. Steph gave him her evil eye and wrote something quickly, handing it back to him.  
  
I'm fine, I want some food. Logan grabbed what was left of Hank's Twinkies and tossed them to Steph, who glowered at them.  
  
"It's all ya have right now," he said. "I can't leave till Hank gets back, or you'll get up, don't glare, I know ya will." Steph sighed silently and leaned back, and wrote something quick on her slate.  
  
Where's Ruhko?  
  
"Feel for yer feet," Logan chuckled, "they're probably ready t' snap off." Steph looked down, and indeed there was Ruhko in a pile of slightly shredded blankets, cutting off circulation to Steph's feet. As the two watched Ruhko started to stir, and a soft little growl emitted from her lips as she opened her eyes. Steph leaned down and picked the child up easily, regardless of her weight, and smiled.  
  
"Hakka ha?" Ruhko murmured, giggling and grapping at Steph's hair. Logan chuckled, seeing the smile on Steph's lips.  
  
"Why don't I ever get one of those?" he asked teasingly. Steph made her grin evil and narrowed her eyes, then with one hand wrote to him.  
  
You get glares cuz even though your fat like Ruhko your not half as cute or a tenth as sweet. Logan chuckled and looked over at Rogue, who had also started to stir.  
  
"Wha-?" she said softly, sitting upright. Logan started and clasped his hands over his ears, and Rogue clapped a hand to her mouth. Steph and Ruhko, however, were unaffected. Rogue put a hand on Logan's jacket sleeve in apology, mouth shut tight. Then she looked over at Steph when the teen tossed the slate over.  
  
Don't worry, you'll get used to being more careful after about ten minutes. Rogue frowned and wrote back.  
  
You're not too reassuring, are you? and tossed it over. Steph read the message.  
  
No, I'm blunt. Sorry. Rogue looked over at Steph, who concentrated on Ruhko and tried to forget Rogue and Logan were there. Logan saw the expression on the teens face and leaned over.  
  
"What's wrong kid?" he asked. Steph didn't look at him.  
  
-She's guilty for making Rogue unable to speak, like her.- Logan sighed as he heard Xavier and put a hand on Steph's shoulder.  
  
"It wasn't yer fault," he said. Steph looked at him and grabbed her slate.  
  
Yes it was, I tripped Rogue and she fell on me, it was my fault and now she's just like me.  
  
"Well ya have someone teh talk ta now," Logan said, Rogue nodded behind him. Steph looked at Ruhko pointedly and Logan tried to grin. "I meant someone who makes sense... most o' the time anyway." Rogue made a face at him as he turned to her.  
  
"And you," he said. "Shoulda been more careful, now yer gonna have ta learn ta control that voice too." Rogue made another face and mouthed the word "yoh as bad as she is". Logan got it more from the look and sighed as the doors opened and Hank walked in, looking slightly sleepy but also happy when he saw both teenagers sitting up.  
  
"So, no serious damage done then," he said. His face fell when he saw the last Twinkie in Steph's lap, the one she had scorned, and he started to ask for it when she put Ruhko down, opened the Twinkie and stuffed it in her mouth, grinning evilly at him.  
  
"Am I able to assume you will replace that sometime?" he asked. Steph shook her head and pointed at Logan, then wrote on her slate and chucked it at him.  
  
Blame oldie, he gave it to me in the first place and wouldn't get me anything else. Hank showed the slate to Logan, who arched an eyebrow at Steph.  
  
"Oldie?" he repeated. Steph gave him an I-don't-care look and went back to Ruhko when Rogue grabbed the slate from Logan's hand, writing quickly.  
  
I'm hungry too, can we get something to eat? Steph got up and looked over at the slate and shook her head, pointing at Rogue's mouth and spreading her hands out wide. Rogue glared at her.  
  
"Ah-" the southern girl started, then groaned inwardly as Hank tripped and Logan grimaced. Steph arched an eyebrow and nodded, her point proven as she took her slate.  
  
Let me go get food, she's gonna kill someone if she gets out there.  
  
"Neither of ya are leaving," Logan growled. "I'll go get the food. Hank, you let either girl get up 'n I'll kill ya." With that Logan stood and walked out the door, leaving Hank still rubbing his head and looking at the three girls in the med bay. Steph started to get up and Hank hurried over.  
  
"No, sit," he said. "I need to make sure you can-" Steph glared at him and stood, tossing her slate at him.  
  
Oh my god I stood up and didn't fall over, it's a miracle. I'm going to get some food.  
  
"But Logan went to get some," Hank protested. Steph took her slate back.  
  
He has sucky taste in food, and if you take any more of my time I'll whisper the feelings of my heart in your ear and if you're lucky you'll wake up after a few days with a head that feels like it has a battle ax stuck in several areas of your skull and brain. Sound like fun? And I'll go get my food anyway. Hank turned slightly pale and then sighed.  
  
"Logan is going to kill me anyway," he muttered as Steph smiled, Ruhko crawling into her arms as she started to move away. Steph looked down at the baby and grinned, walking out the door. Hank looked over at Rogue, who felt no real desire to cause more trouble than she already had.  
  
"You'd better stay here," he said. "Or I will die, weather by Logan or one of you girls. Where has that baby gone?" Rogue took the forgotten writing slate.  
  
She went with Steph. Hank sighed.  
  
"Well, that's good at least, Steph and Logan seem to be the only two who have some control over that baby." Hank remarked, going back over to his computers and opening a cabinet, revealing his emergency stock of Twinkies.  
  
"Logan, where were you yesterday?" Ororo asked in the cafeteria, looking at him as he piled food onto a couple of trays.  
  
"In the med bay," he grunted, not looking up.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Ororo asked. "With the baby?"  
  
"Nope, Rogue took Steph's powers," Logan said. Ororo's eyes went wide.  
  
"Is she ok? What are the girl's powers?"  
  
"Voice that kills, uncontrollable for Steph, and now Rogue too. They're fine," he finished piling the food and lifted the trays, looking at Ororo. "Rogue might have the powers permanently, I've gotta get this food teh them." He turned around and ran smack into Steph, who was trying to sneak up from behind.  
  
"Is that Steph?" Ororo asked. Steph looked at her and tried to smile at Logan, who's eyee narrowed.  
  
"What are ya doin up here?!" he barked. "I'm gonna kill that useless-" Steph grinned and with one arm grabbed an apple, taking one bite before Ruhko grabbed it and sank her fangs into the fruit.  
  
"Beesha dabba!" she cried. Steph tried to take the apple back but only succeeded in making the babe scream "Nyononononyo!" Steph sighed and took another apple, but Ruhko grabbed that to, dropping the first immediately. Then the teen became aware that Logan was still glowering at her and Ororo staring and she tried to smile, shrugging.  
  
- She doesn't like your taste in food, Logan, you didn't ask what she wanted. - Logan heard Xavier mention.  
  
- I'm not cut out for this parenting stuff, Chuck, I'm not a housemaid. - He replied. Xavier chuckled.  
  
- Hmm, I'd have to agree. - Logan almost dropped the trays of food when he heard a girl's teasing thought enter his head, and he stared at Steph, who was grinning.  
  
- Seems the professor can let us talk through his big ol' telepath brain, - she said.  
  
"What's wrong Logan?" Ororo asked, seeing the change that came over him.  
  
"Nothin," Logan said immediately.  
  
- I gotta get some food, chit chat later, - Steph thought.  
  
"No, wait," Logan started, but he felt her connection disappear. - Chuck, she was talkin'.... -  
  
- I'm aware of that, seeing it was me who enabled the transaction, - Xavier replied. Logan didn't reply, still stuck on the sound of Steph's voice, which he hadn't heard at all in the time of him knowing her, even if it was only smallest hint of sounding like it did before Steph's mutation kicked in. He suddenly felt saddened, realizing how hard it must have been for Steph to become a mute and that Rogue was now facing the same fate unless....  
  
- Chuck, could ya help Steph to learn how to control her mutation? And Rogue now, I guess, - Logan asked. Xavier didn't reply for a moment.  
  
- I was going to meet with her later, we will certainly try. - he finally said.  
  
- I wanna help, - Logan said. - I'm gonna help. - 


	15. Welcome to Fatherhood

A knock on Logan's door broke through his mental haze.  
  
"Oh, crud. Whadya want, elf?" He turned to glare at the door.  
  
"Ve need to use ze vashroom, Herr Logan.  
  
Logan stood up and went to the door, then opened it and stared at Kurt in stupified amazement. "So?"  
  
"Beesha!!" the scream echoed down the hall from the bathroom.  
  
"Oh," sighed Logan. "Crud. Sorry, Kurt."  
  
===========================================  
  
Logan handed Ruhko another animal cracker and glanced at the store the other two had gone into, wondering how buying some barrettes could take that long. But then he didn't understand how shopping for anything could take as long as Rogue and Steph took. He was just glad he'd bought the jumbo box of cookies, Ruhko would've shredded him by now from boredom if he hadn't had them to distract her with.  
  
He leaned back against the fountain and put his hands into the pockets of his new jacket, thinking of the past week and a half. Steph and Rogue were making steady, though painfully slow progress with learning to control their voices. Rogue's flying lessons were a little more nerve-wracking, she'd hit the wall just that morning trying to fly through his window and now sported a rather drastic bruise up the side of her face. This was the first time either girl had asked leave from classes since Steph had come, and Chuck had been glad to give them permission to go shopping during the quieter part of the day, provided Logan went with them. He'd agreed, proving, he thought, that fatherhood was even more damaging to the brain than Steph's powers.  
  
"Nurmy," said Ruhko, reaching over his shoulder from the baby backpacker she rode in.  
  
He handed her another cookie and glanced back to make sure she was leaving her image inducer alone. All three of the girls were wearing collars for this trip, Ruhko a thin pink dog collar with the inducer on it, and the two older girls matching jeweled ones to shut down their powers for a time so that they could relax and just be kids.  
  
Logan growled to himself softly, causing Ruhko to coo in delight and lay her ear on his back. He grinned and did it again, a steady rumble like purring, then returned to his train of thought. Neither girl had said a word all the way to the mall. Steph's terseness he could understand, she was used to not talking, but he was worried about Rogue, who should have jumped on the chance to air her views of the world.  
  
"Nana coumvo lala bumm," whispered Ruhko, still listening to him growl.  
  
And then there was the little incident with Peter Rasputin the other day: Steph and Rogue had gone off in the woods to practice flying and Ruhko had tracked them. Peter had followed and gotten knocked out when the two 'big sisters' had seen their favorite baby running up them and greeted her loudly. He'd had to sit on the girls to keep them from leaving then and there. Thankfully the kid was alright, it would've killed Kitty to have something happen to him....  
  
Logan groaned as he caught sight of a store clerk gently but firmly pushing his two girls out of the jewelry store. -Crud, not again. What'd they do this time?-  
  
Both girls turned to watch the clerk go back into the store, rolled their eyes and shrugged at each other, then began slapping at each other and giggling soundlessly.  
  
-Oh, Lord, not that again.- Logan pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezed shut.  
  
A hearty guffaw made him look up at a tall, dark-haired guy with a blue- eyed baby girl on his back.  
  
"Who trusted you with kids?" asked the guy, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
"They're mine," growled Logan.  
  
Nomad's eyes widened. "You get married?"  
  
"No, I just got kids." He glanced back at Ruhko as she reached a slobbered cookie toward the other baby, babbling hospitably.  
  
"Geh?" asked the other baby, staring at her in shock.  
  
"Nurmy," Ruhko assured her, grinning toothily.  
  
"Oh!" Bucky hid her face.  
  
"Ain't seen her hide from anything before," commented Logan in surprise.  
  
"She doesn't meet many kids her age." Nomad joggled his baby packer gently.  
  
"Neither does Ruhko, I'm surprised she didn't' try ta eat her." Logan caught sight of Steph standing on the far side of the fountain, throwing water at Rogue, who was finally using her voice to say things that Logan himself wouldn't say. "Oh crud."  
  
Nomad looked too and leaned against the fountain to keep from falling as he laughed hard. "Boy, you've got your work cut out for you, don't you?"  
  
"Go ahead, yuk it up," growled Logan. "You got a girl yerself there, bub. Just wait'll she gets older."  
  
Turning away from his old friend, he stomped over and caught Rogue's arm (she being the least likely to try and poke him in the ribs and make him flinch). "What d'ya think yer doin'? That's the third store ya bin thrown outta. Come on, we're goin' home."  
  
Two sets of eyes stared at him in mock repentance, and he growled and herded them out to the car.  
  
"Rogue rode in the front on the way here," he said quickly, to stem any dispute. "So it's Steph's turn."  
  
Two raspberries answered him as he crawled into the backseat of the car to strap Ruhko into her carseat.  
  
"Nurmy?" she asked, looking half asleep.  
  
He gave her the rest of the box, knowing that the car would look like a disaster area and started untangling the belts and buckles.  
  
"Baby," she said clearly.  
  
"Yeah, yer a baby, darlin'." He got the straps all snapped together and to the seat in the right places and pulled the ends to make sure they were snug enough.  
  
"Uh uh," she shook her head. "Baby!"  
  
"Oh, ya mean Bucky. Yeah, she's a baby. Ya saw another baby, eh, darlin'?" He grinned at her.  
  
She grinned back and growled. "Daddy!"  
  
He sobered and glanced at Rogue, who looked back innocently, though he knew darn well who'd taught the little one to call him that.  
  
A sudden jab to both sets of ribs made him bang his head solidly on the roof.  
  
"Arrgghh! $# it, Steph!"  
  
She looked back coolly from the front passenger seat.  
  
"Don't give me that crap, I know who that was." He tapped his nose, scowling, and she stuck her tongue out at him.  
  
Still scowling, he went around to the driver's side and got in, pulling a chewed-on doll out from under himself and chucking it into the back.  
  
The first part of the drive home was quiet, but as soon as they were out of site of the city it started up again.  
  
Slap! giggle, giggle. Slap! Wack! Smack! Wap!  
  
"Rogue! Stop hittin' Steph! Steph, yer not helpin'! Don't make me stop this car...."  
  
===================================  
  
Logan lay on the couch with his head up on the arm, staring blankly at a soap opera while Ruhko sat on his legs and chewed on a walnut.  
  
"Hey, Logan." Bobby came in and sat in the arm chair.  
  
"You done classes?" Logan turned a bleary glance toward him.  
  
"Yup. Homework and all." The kid sat back and put his hands behind his head in satisfaction.  
  
"Uh huh." Logan frowned at him. "What did ya do ta Rogue?"  
  
Bobby's cocky attitude vanished, and he sank into the chair, smelling like guilt and shame. "We had a fight and I said something stupid."  
  
"I figured that. What'd ya say?"  
  
"I'd rather not say."  
  
Snikt.  
  
"I told her if she thought you were so great she should go be your girlfriend!" blurted Bobby.  
  
Logan stared at the kid in horror. "What the...." He glanced at Ruhko and left the rest unsaid. "That was a dang dumb thing ta say."  
  
"I know," said Bobby miserably, his blue eyes dull.  
  
Logan saw his pain over it and sighed. "Did ya apologize?"  
  
"I keep trying," whispered Bobby. "But she keeps trying to kill me every time I get near her."  
  
"I told her ta quit throwin' school books." Logan lay his head back and thought, then dug in his pocket and handed the kid a hundred dollar bill. "Go 'n buy the biggest box a chocolate that'll buy, along with some real fancy flowers. Maybe if ya leave those where she'll find 'em she'll forgive ya."  
  
"Thanks!" Bobby grinned gratefully, his eyes sparkling again.  
  
"Yer welcome." Logan lifted his head again and looked at Ruhko as she growled and drooled black.  
  
"What's she eating?" asked Bobby uneasily.  
  
"Chewin' on a black walnut." Logan looked around the floor and pointed. "Hand me that red dog toy, would ya?"  
  
Bobby did so, and he handed the toy to Ruhko, who sniffed it, looked it over, then chucked it back onto the floor and resumed worrying the nut.  
  
"How about the ducky?" Bobby picked up a big yellow rubber duck and held it up to Ruhko.  
  
"Don't...." Logan winced as the teen squeaked the toy and Ruhko responded with terrified, helpless tears. "Squeak it," he finished, gathering her close and giving Bobby a dirty look. "Go stand in th' corner."  
  
"What for? I didn't do anything," protested Bobby.  
  
"Ya made my baby cry," growled Logan.  
  
"I didn't know she was afraid of the duck!"  
  
"Go stand in the #$% corner!"  
  
"But...."  
  
"How much sleep have you had recently, Logan?" Charles rolled into the room, his dark eyes full of laughter.  
  
Logan blinked and tried to remember. "About half an hour's worth last night, right before Ruhko got into the conservatory and ate 'Ro's orchids," he said at last.  
  
Charles nodded. "I will take her for an hour or two every school day from now on, so that you may rest and then teach your automotive class without worrying that she will destroy something."  
  
"You think you kin handle her?" Logan looked at him doubtfully.  
  
"I handle you." Charles smiled.  
  
"Whatever, Chuck. It's yer funeral."  
  
Charles smiled at him, then glanced at Ruhko and nodded. "You should get some sleep now, before you say or do something that you will regret. I will alert you if she wakens."  
  
Logan blinked and looked down at the drowsy baby, then eyed the Professor suspiciously. "What'd ya do ta her?"  
  
"Nothing, I think that this is the effect of a jumbo box of animal cookies." Charles's smile widened, his expression soft as he watched Ruhko lose her battle against sleep.  
  
"Oh. Right." Logan felt his own eyes slipping shut. "Thanks, Chuck."  
  
Charles watched them sleep for a few minutes, noting how the baby girl was listening to Logan's heart and how his arms were wrapped around her protectively. Wiping away a tear, he turned and wheeled out of the room.  
  
-It is good to see him loving someone who can return his love,- he thought as he returned to his interrupted English Literature class. 


	16. Unable to Help

Icey; K, was being a bad, bad website and I couldn't post. 'Pologies so I post twic to make up for lost time.

gGtG; love the reviews.

Icey; yuppys! eep'em comin' ppl!

----------------------------

Steph walked into the rec room and found Logan asleep on the couch, Ruhko also sleeping in his arms and corny soap opera on the television. The mute looked down at her image inducer and vaguely wondered why she even wore it, she never talked anyway.  
  
Logan grunted in his sleep and turned his head, causing Ruhko to stir as well. Steph sighed silently and sat on a chair near them, propping her head up on her arm. It must be so nice to be that small and able to cuddle up in someone's arms, to know they'd protect you with their life and you'd never have to worry about anything when they held you.  
  
Of course, you never thought about bad things beyond being hungry when you were Ruhko's age. Steph looked at the TV where some bimbo was crying and looking at a dead guy. Great, she thought. Lemme guess, the dude tried to kill her but she killed him instead and now she's gonna be all stupid and try and hide the body, only later it will be discovered and she'll get found out and there will be five episodes of sobbing, which will make every single TV Guide cover for a month.  
  
Steph moodily turned off the TV and looked again at Logan and Ruhko, then tossed a blanket over them and slouched out of the room.  
  
"Hello Steph," Steph looked up and saw Kurt ahead of her, smiling as his tail waved back and fourth. Steph nodded at him and walked by, though he had opened his mouth to say something. She didn't want to talk, and right now she didn't want to hear either. All she wanted now was to take a nap.  
  
Logan was in the Danger Room, looking around to make sure everything was working right after one of his classes. The kids had done pretty good, even if it was just holograms and not real danger.  
  
Logan flexed his muscles, it had been a while since he had done any training. Suddenly a simulation started up and he ducked as a razor flew by his head, narrowly missing his ear as the surprised Canadian looked up at the booth, to see Steph grinning evilly at him as she paused the training level.  
  
"Yeh almost got me there," Logan said, smiling slightly. Steph shrugged and looked down at the control board and then at him, arching an eyebrow. Logan nodded.  
  
"Turn it teh the level I jus' created last week," he said. Steph looked and saw it was a pretty tough one, not one anybody but Logan would be dumb enough to try. But then he was Logan and she did feel like watching him run around in circles, so she typed in the commands and started it up, enjoying watching Logan jump around and destroy things with his claws.  
  
Logan was getting a pretty good workout, even for him, and soon sweat started running down his forehead as he dodged machines and tried to get hit as little as possible.  
  
Steph wondered how many real fights he had been in, and how many he had won, Probably most of them, he was a good fighter, though she'd never write that down and tell him.  
  
Thinking of this Steph took out her slate and began to take notes on all of Logan's mistakes, so she could show him later. It seemed the simulation was getting harder as time wore on, or maybe Logan was just getting slower, he was hit twice in the back even though the wounds healed instantly.  
  
As the level got harder Steph began noticing more rips in Logan's costume when she looked up, and a small edge of worry began to creep up her spine, he hadn't been training much lately, always taking care of Ruhko and not getting that much sleep.  
  
Steph looked around for her power suppressor but didn't see one, she had taken it off before she came down here. Suddenly she heard an explosion and swiveled around to see Logan crash against the wall. Immediately her hear froze as she rushed to turn the simulation off, but not before the huge hammer-like thing hit Logan twice more.  
  
As Steph rushed down to Logan she found he was unmoving, even when she shook him. She cursed mentally, why had she taken off her suppressor? Then she could call for help, or try and get Logan to answer to her voice.  
  
Concentrating on what the professor had suggested for controlling her voice Steph whispered Logan's name, but only heard the deadly ring of her mutation in the whisper.  
  
Frantically she grabbed Logan underneath his arms and tried to pull him out of the danger room, but not succeeding, she'd have to leave for help. But what if the program started up again?  
  
"Logan, are you in- oh my god, what happened?" Luck was finally on Steph's side as Ororo came through the doors, finding Steph bent over Logan. Steph made motions of fighting and pointed at the walls the hammers had disappeared into and then hit her fist on her head, wishing she hadn't left her slate upstairs. Ororo rushed over and checked for a pulse, looking up at Steph with a grim face.  
  
"Go get Hank, tell him to come immediately," she said in a low voice. Steph got up and ran from the room immediately her throat clenching as she skidded around a corner and into the medbay. Hank looked up as the girl jumped up and down, making frantic motions towards the door.  
  
"Steph? What's wrong?" he asked, looking over his glasses. Steph's hands clenched into fists in frustration, those Twinkies had made the doctor incredibly slow.  
  
"Logan's hurt, get to the Danger room!" she whispered. Hank flinched, a hand shooting up to his head, but he had heard most of the desperate message.  
  
"Ugh, you could have just-" he began, but Steph grabbed his jacket and shook him violently, then pushed him towards the door. Hank nodded and hurried out, Steph right on his heels.


	17. Many Forms of Mayhem

Logan growled as he heard the steady beeping and felt the pull of glue on his chest hair. He was in the medlab again. He'd kill Hank one of these days if the guy didn't learn to just leave him alone and let him heal in peace.  
  
No, I won't, he thought, sitting up and pulling off the connectors. Need him around if one 'a the kids or Ro or the elf gets...hurt?  
  
He stared for a few minutes at the still forms on the other tables, then got up and walked over to look down at them, his nose trying to pick up a hint of what had happened.  
  
There was a snort from behind him, then a gasp and a sigh, and he turned to look at Marie, who was sitting in Hank's chair with Ruhko sprawled across her lap, sleeping.  
  
"Logan! Yer up," she said softly, with obvious effort, and he realized that she was controlling her voice.  
  
"Yeah...." He looked back down at Kurt's peaceful face. "What happened?"  
  
She heaved a huge sigh. "Steph lost it."  
  
"What?" he turned to frown at her and saw that she was fighting back tears.  
  
She opened her mouth, but then closed it and shook her head, scooping up Ruhko to hold the baby close.  
  
Logan looked around for a shirt and found one laying next to the table he'd been on. -Chuck? What happened?-  
  
-Welcome back to the land of the living, Logan,- the Professor's mental voice sounded old and weary.  
  
-I git enough 'a that crud from Hank, knock it off 'n tell me what the #$% happened.- Logan growled in his chest, one hand on Ororo's shoulder.  
  
-I am not speaking metaphorically, Logan. You were dead for nearly fifteen minutes. Steph was very upset at being excluded from the medlab, and when Ororo and Kurt attempted to comfort her in the hallway she lashed out at them with her voice.-  
  
"Crud," whispered Logan, squeezing his eyes shut for a minute. - Where is she?-  
  
-In the holding cell.-  
  
Logan felt the hair stand up on his neck. -How long's she ben in there?-  
  
Charles gave a mental sigh -Two days. This is Monday morning. You were injured Friday night.-  
  
Logan's growl became a snarl of rage. -Ya left her in a cage fer two days!? I thought better 'a ya than that, Chuck.-  
  
-Logan...- began Charles, but Logan put up his mental shields, still snarling, then turned and looked at Rogue, who stared back with wide eyes, Ruhko peering over her arm fearfully.  
  
Shaking his head, he turned and strode out of the room.  
  
Steph was huddled in the corner when he came into the cell. She looked up when the door swished open, then scrambled to her feet, eyes narrowed in fury.  
  
"What were ya thinkin'?" growled Logan, scowling back at her. A back corner of his mind noticed the slave collar she wore around her neck.  
  
She didn't answer, only sucked in her breath and gave a piercing scream of rage, then kicked him, hard.  
  
He gasped and leaned against the wall, fighting back the urge to go feral and take it personally as the pain coursed through his body, barely aware of the fact that she continued to attack him. What did I do wrong?  
  
The worst pain faded, and he suddenly whirled, extending one claw and slashing the Genoshan collar off her neck. "Ya wanna kill people, huh?" he snarled. "Go ahead! Cut loose 'n blow my brains out, but before ya do ya might as well rip this up first." He pulled a folded sheaf of papers out of his waistband where he'd stuck them as he left the medlab.  
  
She put her hand to her neck, eyes twin brown stones, then took the papers and looked them over, her expression changing to bewilderment. Finally she looked up at him.  
  
"Application fer adoption," he said shortly, past the lump in his throat. "You've ben a ward of the State fer over a year. They wouldn' let a single guy adopt a teenage girl, so Ro was standin' in as my girl. But now Ro's maybe dyin' 'n it don't look like you want any part 'a me, so go ahead 'n make confetti, 'n then git yer screamin' done." He paused and clenched his fists. "Just don't hurt Rogue 'er Ruhko. Or Chuck. The other kids'll need 'im."  
  
Steph stared at him for a timeless eternity, her face blank with shock. Then she turned, the papers falling from her nerveless fingers, and walked blindly away from him till she hit the wall.  
  
Logan swallowed as she crumpled and sat huddled there, with her forehead to the cold metal, soundless sobs shaking her thin body. Every instinct told him to go to his pup and comfort her, but he still wasn't sure that she wanted him anywhere near her. Finally, the sight of her hunched shoulders and bowed head was too much, and he walked over and sat next to her, pulling her gently into his arms.  
  
"Shh, darlin'," he whispered, suspicious moisture gathering in his eyes and leaking from the sides. "It's gonna be alright. It's gonna be alright."  
  
She stiffened, and he tensed slightly, ready to back off and give her her space, but then she gave a choked sigh and lay her head on his shoulder, soaking it silently with tears.  
  
Logan lay his cheek on her head, his eyes staring back at memories of a tiny Japanese girl and her mother as he rocked and murmured reassurances.  
  
-Logan?-  
  
-Not now, Chuck! I'm busy.-  
  
-I thought that you would like to know that Steph did not injure Ororo and Kurt. One of the other students is a telepath, and tried to protect them when he sensed Steph getting ready to use her voice. It was the first time his power manifested, however, so I'm unsure as of yet what he did to them.-  
  
Logan gave a sigh of relief and smoothed Steph's hair. "Ya didn' hurt 'em, darlin'." -So they're gonna be alright?-  
  
-Perhaps.-  
  
He choked off a growl. -Don't give me that crap.-  
  
Putting his shields up again, he looked down at Steph and discovered that she was asleep, one hand clenched in a death grip on the front of his shirt.  
  
This time his tears escaped for real as he thought of what the world must have thrown at the girl to make her see someone like him as a source of comfort.  
  
Steph sat up and looked around her room, scowling, then blinking as she caught sight of Logan sitting in her chair, which had been moved to the side of her bed.  
  
She looked at him soberly, noticing the frown he wore as he slept, then thought of what had happened earlier.  
  
The sudden chop of metal against wood broke her out of her musing, and she leaned over to look past Logan, who had wakened with a start.  
  
"Ah, crud. Ruhko, don't chop the blasted door apart," he groaned, getting up and opening it.  
  
The baby looked up at him thoughtfully, then retracted her claws and toddled past him to Steph's bed, where she reached her arms up and babbled earnestly, dancing on her toes.  
  
Steph picked her up and cuddled her close, patting her close-packed black curls with one hand.  
  
Logan watched them for a few minutes, then looked around as he caught the smell of KFC coming from downstairs. "You hungry, Steph?"  
  
She glanced up at him, then pulled a notepad out of the night table and wrote. "Buzz off, yer worse than an old hen."  
  
He stood and looked down at her uncertainly, not wanting to leave if she needed him, but she gave the ghost of a grin and waved him away.  
  
"Okay. I'll be in th' cafeteria if ya need me." He turned and walked out.  
  
He was halfway down the hall when the patter of little feet warned him of a follower.  
  
"Thought you were stayin' with Steph, half-pint." He scooped Ruhko up and looked at her questioningly.  
  
She shook her head and pointed toward the stairs. "Nabo dappee beesha, nurmy."  
  
"Whatever you say, kid." He hiked her up so that she sat on his shoulder like a horse and continued on his way toward supper, his mind still with the troubled teen in the room they'd left.  
  
Steph sat on her bed and doodled on her pad after they were gone, thinking again about what had happened during the past few days. I nearly killed his friends. I thought I had killed them. But he came in there and was gonna let me kill him, too. He's off his gourd. She shuddered as she thought of those terrifying minutes when Hank worked franticly over Logan's limp body. He don't need my help to do it, looks like he can do himself in just fine.  
  
Then her mind went back to what had happened in the holding cell and she clenched her jaw to keep from crying. For a few minutes there she'd felt safe, loved, protected. And something told her it wasn't a one-shot deal. That maybe she actually could depend on someone other than herself.  
  
"No!" she said, then blinked as she realized that there had been no trace of her mutation in the word.  
  
"No," she whispered. No mutation.  
  
Grinning like an insane hyena, she repeated the word over and over to herself, writing it on her pad at the same time.  
  
Mwaha! What a great first word. Hmmm, I'd better teach it t' Ruhko. Logan's gettin' over the shock of bein' called daddy.  
  
A knock on the door made her look up at Rogue, who was holding a massive candy box and an armful of roses and orchids that was nearly bigger than she was.  
  
"Bobby gahve me some chocolate," said the Southern Belle shyly. "Ya wanna shayah it?"  
  
"No," said Steph, smiling beatifically.  
  
Rogue frowned and started to turn away, but then realized what Steph had done and turned back with a big grin. "You tahlked!"  
  
"No," argued Steph, grinning back evilly. "No proof," she wrote on her pad in huge letters.  
  
Rogue shook her head and came to sit in the chair where Logan had been, laying the flowers on the bed and taking the lid off the chocolate box. "Hmmm, strawberry creahm! Those are all mihne."  
  
"No." Steph took one and stuffed it in her mouth, then followed it with several buttercreams and a toffee. "Nurmee."  
  
"Yah sound like Ruhko." Rogue grinned and strung the insides of another strawberry cream.  
  
Steph made a rude gesture and ate a coffee cream, her eyes starting to show the effects of the sugar and chocolate.  
  
Rogue laughed. "Now ya lookin' like Jubilee."  
  
A few minutes later all ten pounds of chocolate was gone and both girls were giggling insanely as they discussed Bobby's butt and Peter's chest along with the good points of several other boys.  
  
"Ah need somethin' ta dreank." Rogue got up and started toward the door, only to smack into it and start giggling again. "Yah comin', Steph?"  
  
Steph nodded and stuck her pad and pen into the pocket of her pants, then winced and shook her leg as the pen stabbed her.  
  
Down in the kitchen they pulled the fridge open and looked thoughtfully at the contents.  
  
"Ooo!" Rogue snatched a six pack of bottles, then pulled a bucket from the freezer and headed back toward the stairs.  
  
Steph wrote quickly and flapped the pad over the older girl's shoulder, trying not to drop the chocolate cake she'd taken from the fridge. "Beer?"  
  
Rogue's eyes crossed slightly as she read it, then she shook her head. "No, shugah, somethin' bettah." She held up the six pack so that Steph could read the words on the bottles.  
  
Jolt cola, read the black girl, squinting to keep the letters in focus. All the sugar and twice the caffeine of regular cola. Her eyes widened. "Are you for real?" she wrote.  
  
"Heh, wait'll yah have some." Rogue ducked into her own room and flopped down on the bed, putting up her hand to adjust the way her suppressor was turned. "Heah." She handed Steph a bottle of pop and a spoon and pulled open the ice-cream bucket. "Bottohms up, shugah!"  
  
An hour later they were having an earnest conversation about the little spots that kept dancing around the room as they bounced up and down on the bed on their butts and giggled like hyenas, neither of them aware of the fact that they were talking very loudly or that Rogue's suppressor was now laying on the floor.  
  
"Ah bet yoh ticklish!" said Rogue, diving at Steph.  
  
"Ahh! Get the #$% away from me, you $#% perv!" Steph tried to jump off the bed, but got her foot caught on nothing and she fell on her head.  
  
"You okhay?" Rogue peered down at her, owl-eyed.  
  
Steph looked up at her and started giggling, then turned toward the door as Peter came in.  
  
"Vat is happening?" he asked, his handsome face creased into a questioning smile.  
  
Steph got herself up on all fours and went into a crouch, wiggled her bum, then pounced and hit him in the chest. He went down with a glorious crash, smashing a table that had been standing by the door.  
  
"Vat?" he asked, laughing, then gave a whoop of dismay as Rogue also pounced and both girls started tickling him. "No! Argghh! Girls, please stop tickling me! Please, ...." he trailed off in Russian, laughing so hard that they wouldn't have been able to understand him even if they'd known the language as he gently tried to fend them off without hurting them.  
  
"What's going on here?" the growl cut through the laughter and giggling, and Steph and Rogue looked up guiltily.  
  
Logan scowled down at them, Ruhko peering over his shoulder with a big grin on her baby face. "Rogue, git off his chest 'n let 'im up. Steph, let go 'a him now."  
  
Both girls complied meekly, and Peter got to his feet and left the room, blushing furiously.  
  
Logan watched him go, setting Ruhko on the floor as she suddenly let go of him and jumped, then turned back to the girls. "I can't even sit down fer a few minutes without Chuck tellin' me yer abusin' Colossus?"  
  
Steph exchanged a glance with Rogue, and the girls nodded at each other.  
  
Logan stopped his lecture to look at them puzzledly. "What?" Then his eyes widened. "Oh, crap, no."  
  
He made it all the way to the turn in the hall before they rugby tackled him and sat on him, then started tickling him, Ruhko growling as she beat up his feet.  
  
"Arrgghhh!" he bellowed, squirming like an eel, then rolled over and caught one girl under each arm, shaking them gently and growling.  
  
Steph growled back, totally caught up in the game, and Logan was so busy that he didn't notice the lack of effects from her voice.  
  
"Yah want a piece 'a me, huh?!" He tried to bound to his feet, only to trip over Ruhko and put his head through the wall.  
  
Steph and Rogue howled with helpless laughter, then jumped on him again and started tickling.  
  
"Crap! No! Please! Stop! ROWRRR!!!"  
  
All three girls squealed and ducked in delight, then jumped on him and got shaken and growled at again.  
  
Charles watched through the eyes of a startled student, his own eyes wide at the hilarity of the foursome.  
  
Then he shook his head. Logan was in for it deep now. There would be no turning back. 


	18. No and Lo

Steph walked down to the cafeteria and sat in a chair, putting Ruhko on her lap and smiling as the baby giggle and stuffed down the gummy bears Rogue had given her.  
  
"Whoa, you just run a five mile race?" Kitty asked, coming up from the back and sitting next to Steph. Steph wondered what she was talking about, then smiled, she must be covered in sweat, after Logan had finally gotten away and she and Rogue had to pick up Ruhko and chase after him. Apparently Logan decided to take a nap and locked himself in his room. Then Rogue had to take a shower and left Steph to take care of Ruhko.  
  
"Eeshba tookie ka," Ruhko mumbled. Kitty smiled somewhat nervously at the baby, and Steph wickedly thought of the shredded sweater that had once been the brown haired girl's.  
  
"So, where's Rogue? I haven't like, seen her in days. You either, you guys been down looking at Logan?" Kitty asked. "Or maybe torturing Peter?" Steph laughed soundlessly.  
  
"No," she said. Kitty opened her mouth to respond when she jerked.  
  
"Oh my god!" she said, staring at Steph with wide eyes. "You can talk?!" Steph shrugged and then adjusted Ruhko enough for her to allow Steph to grab her slate and quickly jotted down. Kitty grabbed the slate. 'I've got 'no' down.' Steph grinned at her as the brown haired girl looked back up at her.  
  
"You can only say no?" she repeated. Steph smiled and nodded.  
  
"No."  
  
"Oh man, am I the first to hear that?"  
  
"No." Steph laughed again when Kitty paused.  
  
"Wait, are you just saying that because you can or does someone else know?" she asked. Steph laughed softly.  
  
"No," she said. Kitty frowned.  
  
"You need to learn to say yes," she said.  
  
"No."  
  
"Cut it out Steph," Kitty said.  
  
"Nyonono!" Ruhko cried, running out of gummy bears and shaking her fists at Kitty. Kitty stood up and backed away a step.  
  
"Um, you can keep a hold on her right?" she asked nervously.  
  
"No." Kitty rolled her eyes and then smiled halfway, patting Steph on the shoulder.  
  
"Glad to hear your voice, just leave Peter alone and learn yes or something else," she said. Steph smiled her thanks and also stood up, hoisting Ruhko up on her shoulder and then walking away from Kitty and up to Rogue's room, opening the door.  
  
"K," she whispered, good mood dropping slightly as she felt her mutation come out. Ruhko smiled at her. "Go in and bug Rogue for a while, and Logan to, if you can," she whispered, opening the door. Ruhko looked up at her and laughed, then saw the rest of the gummy bears inside and charged in, running over then napping Rogue to get to them. Steph giggled as she heard Rogue's surprised squeak and then walked down the hall, reaching a window and opening it she looked over her shoulder and then climbed out, falling for a little bit and then shooting up into the air.  
  
Steph flew up to the clouds, feeling the air start to thin out slightly until it got too thin to breathe, then stopping her flight and dropping down, laughing as the adrenalin of her stunt coursed through her veins and the ground rushed up at her. Getting closer Steph slowed her fall and crash- landed on the roof, bouncing off her butt and flipping over, landing on her back and closing her eyes as she caught her breathe and lay in the warm sun.  
  
"No," she said. "No, nope," she cursed as she heard the traces of mutation in the nope and wondered how much more practice it would take until she could swear aloud. "No, no no, no- Lo- Logan," she sighed, she couldn't even say Logan's name yet. Slowly she realized the sugar had affected her energy more than she thought it would and it was wearing off, the warm sun and fresh smell of grass and trees overcoming her as she drifted off to sleep, still trying to day Logan's name.  
  
"Lo, Lo- gan, GAN, no, g-" she sighed as her energy left completely, her voice becoming quieter as she drifted into her dreams. "Dad."  
  
Rogue looked around for Steph, then out a window nervously, the sun was setting and a stiff breeze was blowing through. Knowing Steph told Rogue that she was out doing one of those mad falls she had shown Rogue during a flying practice. Steph was a nut, flying that high and then dropping down with no control, the brief thought that she hadn't slowed herself down in time and hit the ground flew through Rogues mind, and the girl held Ruhko closer to her as she looked out the window more.  
  
- She didn't crash, Rogue, - the professor assured her. -Steph is asleep on the roof, though I think you'd better go wake her up, and no more sugar fiestas, alright? - Rogue smiled.  
  
- Sorry professor, - she said sheepishly, then walked out the front door and rose into the air, landing on the roof and almost tripping over Steph in the dark.  
  
"Hey! Watch it!" Steph said, her voice vibrating through the air and startling Rogue.  
  
"Sorry," she said after a brief moment of nausea. Steph quickly got up and caught Rogue as she stumbled, smiling apologetically.  
  
"That's ok," Rogue said, shaking her head. "Just can't- not as immune as ya," she said, giggling. Steph laughed too, careful to keep it quiet. Rogue blinked and smiled, then nodded at the mansion.  
  
"Logan's up, wanna go bug him?" she asked. Steph closed her eyes.  
  
"Lo, Logan," she frowned as she heard the vibration. Rogue laughed and Ruhko giggled, making Rogue let go as she jumped down on Steph.  
  
"Eeba!" she said. Steph picked herself and Ruhko up and the two walked over to the edge of the roof.  
  
"Well, ya got 'Lo' down. Call him that, he hasn't heard yoh voice yet," Rogue as the pair floated down and through a window Steph wrote on her slate and handed it to Rogue.  
  
"You already shouted at him?" she read, looking up. "How'd ya do that an' not kill him?" Steph grabbed her slate back.  
  
'Nearly did, common, lets go find him," she wrote, then passed Ruhko back to Rogue and hurried down the hall and jumping down the stairs, then running into the cafeteria and seeing Logan eating some leftover chicken she jumped on his lap and made him crash backwards. Climbing up before the stunned Logan could do anything Steph sat cross-legged on his chest and smiled at him.  
  
"What the-? Steph!" Logan said in dismay, looking at the teen sitting on his chest and then noticing her grin.  
  
"No," she said as he started to shove him off. Logan froze and looked at her.  
  
"Yeh talked." He said in a soft voice.  
  
"Lo," she said. "No Lo..."  
  
"All she ken say," Rogue laughed walking in. Logan started to laugh, grabbing Steph and pulling her in for a hug as she flailed out in surprise.  
  
"Yeh did it!" he said, still laughing. Steph looked at Rogue in shock, seeing the southern girl about to crack up herself. Logan let go and then looked up at her, scowling. "Alright kid, get offa me or ya will need t' make out a will," he said. Steph stuck her tongue out at him but got up anyway, stealing the rest of his chicken as he slowly got up.  
  
Logan smiled at her.  
  
"Soon kid, I'll never hear the end of it," he said. Then he groaned. "A teenage girl gettin' her voice back, yeh'll talk up a storm!"  
  
"No," Steph said. On her slate she quickly jotted a note, which Logan read. 'I've found out talking is overrated, most of the time.' Logan looked up.  
  
"Most of the time?" he asked, Steph wrote another message, her face falling a little bit. 'Like when someone needs help.' "Oh," Logan said. He looked at Steph seriously. "That wasn't yer fault, kid, I shoulda known I couldn't do a level like that right then." Steph tried to smile, and then took another piece of Logan's chicken as Rogue cleared her throat.  
  
"Ah, scuse me, but Ah can't relate ta what y'all are talkin about, so Ah'll just start up anotha talk," she said. She flashed an evil grin at Steph, who looked at her half curiously, then back at Logan. "Guess who was free fallen again- ah!" Steph immediately kicked Rogue, but Logan had already heard.  
  
"You were free fallen again?" he demanded. "Crap, Steph, I told yeh that was too dangerous!" Steph made a face at him.  
  
"No," she said defiantly, then wrote the rest. "It's great, and you're not my father yet, so stop acting like 'im."  
  
"Yet?" Logan asked. Steph glared and pulled out of her back pocket a bunch of papers, then handed them to Logan, who looked at them. It was the adoption pages he had given her in the holding cell, and on the last page Steph had signed her name. He stared at it and then the slate, which fell over the paper. "Didn't know if I had to sign them but it's only in pencil right now, so if I'm not supposed ta we can erase it."  
  
"What's that?" Rogue asked, looking over Logan's shoulder curiously while Ruhko gabbed away and pulled at her hair. Rogue's mouth dropped. "Yah, yah gonna adopt her?" she asked, looking at Logan in amazement. "Yah wanna adopt her?!"  
  
"She's too young t' be on her own," Logan said, shrugging and fighting the urge to smile and hug Steph. Rogue started to giggle and Logan and Steph looked at her strangely. "What's with yeh Stripes?" Logan asked. Rogue laughed.  
  
"Ya gonna be a daddy, Logan," she said. "An' y'all will be a happy famahly, right? Logan, Steph an' Ruhko!"  
  
"And you," Logan said. "Yer in my charge, Stripes, yeh can't get out that easy." Rogue giggle again.  
  
"We're a matchin' set, huh?" she asked.  
  
"No," Steph said, starting to giggle also. Logan shook his head and then noticed that there was no more chicken left on his plate, and that Steph was licking her fingers and finishing off his soda at the same time. When she saw him glaring at her she shrugged and wrote a note on her slate.  
  
"Gramps, ya gotta eat your food or at least guard it around me, I thought ya knew better than that." Logan shook his head.  
  
"I'll get it back outta ya," he growled. "Yeh owe me chicken now, squirt."  
  



	19. The End of Silence

"Dadadada."  
  
"No."  
  
"Nyo! Dadadada."  
  
"Lo...lo g...."  
  
"NYO!!!! Dadadada."  
  
Steph sighed and gave her baby sister a pained look. "What, I'm supposed to repeat after you?"  
  
"Esha buggo dtampa la." Ruhko nodded, black eyes serious. "Dadadada."  
  
"Fine. 'Dadadada'...." Steph's eyes widened and she sat up, using one hand to hold onto the tiles so they didn't slide off the roof. "Hey, there wasn't any vibration in that. Da da da da.... Wow. Da, da, dada, dad, daddy, no, not that. Dad, dad, ha!" Her face creased into a grin of delight. "Ha-lo. Hah! Halohah. Hahaha."  
  
"Dadadada," instructed Ruhko, waving her fist in the air and then getting distracted as her claws popped out. "Ooo, brusha ta lo!"  
  
Steph snorted and peered over the edge of the roof, but didn't see anyone. Picking up the baby, she rose into the air and looked down at the mansion that had become her home during the past two months.  
  
Home. The word still sounded alien when she used it in context with herself.  
  
Never thought I'd have a home, she thought, frowning pensively. Or a family. 'N now I'm the middle sister in a family of three. With a dad who's the worst suck I've ever met, though I'd never tell anyone.  
  
She hugged Ruhko as the baby babbled and waved her hands, giggling as a passing crow back-winged in surprise and scolded them with a harsh croak.  
  
"HAH!" Steph told it, waving her free hand, then dive-bombed it and swooped down to the front step, landing neatly and walking inside.  
  
Ruhko wriggled to be let down the minute she came into the hall, then raced away into the den, clamoring at the top of her voice.  
  
"Hey, shugah!" said Rogue, picking her up as Steph walked in. "Yah enjoyin' havin' the Mansion tah yohself?"  
  
"Hah!" said Steph, flopping down on the couch next to them and picking up the remote.  
  
"Good job!" Her older sister beamed, then winced as Ruhko tried yet again to pull one of her white streaks out. "No, no, shugah, that's grown on."  
  
"Dato momba lorgle bletha pbbbttt." Ruhko sat back and looked at her, then lifted one hand and proudly showed her the claws. "Beesha!"  
  
"Ah see that, shugah." Rogue smiled, and the baby grinned back, then yawned and snuggled against her chest, blinking sleepily.  
  
Steph straightened her leg so that she could get her slate out and wrote on it languidly, watching with one eye as Sailor Moon fell down and bawled stormily. "Where is everybody?"  
  
Rogue read it and shrugged. "All ovah. Most the othah kids are in town. Ah think Logan's talkin' with the Proffessah 'bout 'Ro 'n Kurt."  
  
Steph winced and looked away from her, scowling as she thought of the two people laying down in the medbay. It'd been a month since they were knocked out by one of the other students of the Xavier Academy for gifted children, during Steph's frightened rage after Logan had been critically injured in the Danger room. So far the Professor hadn't been able to find out what was keeping them from waking up.  
  
Rogue got up, breaking Steph's unhappy train of thought. "Let's go scare Hank," she said, putting the sleeping baby on her hip.  
  
"You mean, 'let's go steal Twinkies'," wrote Steph sourly.  
  
"What evah." Rogue grinned cheerfully. "Same thing."  
  
Steph nodded and stood slowly, followed her elder sister out of the room and down the hall to the elevator. "Do we have to go into the medlab?" she wrote.  
  
Rogue shook her head as she pressed the button. "Nah, Ah think he's in his lab, messin' round with his experiments."  
  
"Ooo!" Steph scribbled, her grin becoming more real. "Maybe he'll blow something up this time!"  
  
Rogue giggled. "Ah hope not! That'd scare Ruhko, 'n Ah don't like gettin' cut."  
  
"Wimp," wrote Steph, sniggering.  
  
"Ah don't see you lettin' her use you foh a scratchin' post," retorted Rogue, reaching up to adjust her power suppressor as they stepped out into the gleaming white hall that only a few people had ever seen.  
  
"Hah!" said Steph, then peered around the edge of the lab door. "Ha- lo."  
  
Hank started and turned, hastily setting down half a Twinkie. "Stephanie?" His face broke into a beam. "It's so good to hear your dulcet tones!"  
  
"Hah." She shook her head and rolled her eyes, then grinned and did a hula. "Ha-lo-hah!"  
  
Hank applauded. "Lovely! Truly lovely! What other utterances are in your power?"  
  
She looked at him thoughtfully, running over syllables in her mind, then got a truly evil grin on her face and said, "Da...."  
  
"Oh, my stars and garters!" His eyes widened in alarm. "Don't!"  
  
Steph shook her head, giggling soundlessly as she wrote, "Rube!" in huge letters on her slate and showed it to him.  
  
He gave her a reproachful look from his soft brown eyes, then reached back and picked up his Twinkie and stuffed it into his mouth.  
  
"Don't tell me you never swore to bug your parents?" she wrote, cocking her head as she turned the slate for him to read.  
  
"Not to my recollection, Steph, I was far too caught up in more fascinating pursuits." He turned and tinkered with something on the equipment set up on the counter, then turned back to the girls. "Hast thou come to raid my treasure chest?"  
  
"Nah, just yoh Twinkie drawah." Rogue grinned evilly.  
  
"Yea, verily." He pulled it open with a sigh and took out the half- empty box. "Set to, fair maids."  
  
"Well, that takes all the fun outtah it, Doc." Rogue looked at the little cakes disinterestedly, shifting Ruhko on her hip as the baby went totally limp with a sigh.  
  
Hank grinned at her, eyes twinkling as he peered over his glasses. "Yes, I know."  
  
Steph gave him a raspberry and grabbed a Twinkie out of the box, ripping off the plastic and stuffing it into her mouth, then reached for another one and opened it as she chewed.  
  
"Alas, I see that my ploy was fruitless." Hank chuckled and pushed his chair toward Rogue. "Canst stay and lighten my work with thy sweet presences for a time?"  
  
"Shore, we can stay 'n visit, right, Steph?"  
  
She muffled a burp and ate the second Twinkie, then wandered over to look through one of the magnifying ports on his aquarium, more interested in alien paramecium than she was in talking.  
  
"Ah guess that's a yeah." Rogue chuckled, then asked Hank if he knew that Bobby liked Twinkies.  
  
"Yes," said the doctor jovially. "He oft comes down to assist me in my work and to share in my bounty.... Would that he would think to replenish the store once in awhile, but one must conclude that a student's salary is best saved for other things. That is a very fine ring. Tis the one he gave you, is it not?"  
  
Steph tuned them out, having found the football that Bobby and Hank had gotten in trouble for playing with in the house several times over the past five weeks. Tossing it up in the air and catching it, she was soon lost in thoughts of indoor football, Twinkies, and little lavender cells swimming around.  
  
Rogue's voice snapped her out of her zoned state and she turned her head to look at her sister, who was frowning at Hank in concern.  
  
"Hank? Yah alright? Yah don't look too good." She shifted Ruhko and got up.  
  
Steph turned to look at him, her eyes widening as she saw how pale the doctor had gone.  
  
"Feel...most strange...." he murmured, his eyes going out of focus. He blinked, his shoulders hunching slightly as he braced himself with both hands on the counter. "I'll...."  
  
Steph dropped the football and darted forward, catching him and staggering under his weight as his legs gave way. "Ro'?" She looked toward the chair and Rogue juggled Ruhko to one arm and pulled it forward, holding it in place.  
  
Steph nodded her thanks and got him into it, then pushed him upright and put her hand to his neck. "#$%," she said softly, not noticing that she'd said it or that it had been untainted in her concern over how shallow and uneven the doctor's pulse was. "He's really sick."  
  
"Ah'll go get Logan 'n the Proffessah." Rogue turned and bolted out of the room, holding Ruhko tightly in her arms to keep the baby from being " Hank's eyes slipped shut for a minute, then opened again. "Contaminated Twinkie."  
  
Steph nodded and said, "Shh," reaching one hand toward the pocket that held her suppressor.  
  
She put it up again hurriedly to catch him as he stiffened with a gasp and nearly fell out of the chair. "Hey! Careful!"  
  
"Apologies," he muttered weakly, sweat beading his brow. "Could you help me lie down? I feel...." He bit his lip, going even paler.  
  
"Here," lean on my shoulder. She pulled him up and tried to brace herself under his arm, only to find that she was too tall. "K, fine, I've got you, now lets...."  
  
She broke off in horror as he gave a roar of agony and went completely limp, falling before she could catch him again.  
  
Steph hastily knelt beside him, wadding up her duster for a pillow and then straightening his arms and legs. "Hank? Hank, can you hear me?"  
  
He didn't respond, even when she slapped his face gently.  
  
"Don't $#% do this to me, man!" She blinked back tears, then gasped as he gave a final sigh and lay still. "No! No, you're not #$% dyin'. No $#% way."  
  
Tipping his head back, she started blowing breath into his lungs, pausing to administer CPR the way Logan had taught her. "Live, stupid, live, come on...."  
  
Logan was suddenly there beside her, pushing on Hank's chest as she did the kiss of life.  
  
"Keep it up, darlin', the ambulance's on the way," he said gruffly.  
  
They worked over him for what seemed like hours till finally two young men came through the lab door behind Bobby, whose face was nearly as pale as his friend's. Hank was strapped onto the gurney and wheeled away, the paramedics working over him quickly and efficiently.  
  
Steph watched them from her seat on the floor, then looked at Logan as he offered her his hand. "He's dead, isn't he?"  
  
Logan's face filled with sadness and he hunkered down beside her. "Darlin' do you know what you just did?"  
  
She shook her head, turning to look at Bobby, who was hovering anxiously next to them.  
  
"Yer talkin'." Logan pulled her close and lay his cheek on her hair.  
  
"No," she said absently, then sighed and relaxed with her head on his shoulder for a few minutes.  
  
"Yeah, you are. Perfectly."  
  
She sighed indifferently, feeling rung out and sick as she gently pushed away from him and stood up. "Where's Rogue 'n Ruhko?"  
  
"Upstairs with Chuck." Logan stood too and gave Bobby a brief one armed hug.  
  
"Are they...." The boy bit his lip. "Will they take care of him? I mean, he's a mutant...."  
  
Logan nodded. "They'll take care 'a him. Chuck's money'll see ta that." He turned to Steph. "D'ya know what happened? Rogue's too excited ta make sense."  
  
"He got something on one of his stupid Twinkies," she said listlessly.  
  
Logan frowned up at her. "Yeh don't think this was yer fault?"  
  
She shook her head. "He's dead, isn't he?"  
  
"Not necessarily." He put his hand on her back and gently herded her and Bobby down the hall and onto the elevator, then toward the garage and into the Jeep. "Get your seatbelts on, I'll go git Rogue 'n Ruhko."  
  
======================  
  
"Steph, you awake?" Logan peered at her in the darkness of the waiting room and saw her start and nod.  
  
"Yeah, just thinking." She turned to look at him, her eyes dull.  
  
He shook his head and glanced at Rogue and Bobby where they lay on the couch curled up with Ruhko. "How'd they pull that?"  
  
"Ruhko saw them hugging and wanted in on it." Steph shrugged.  
  
Logan chuckled. "Wonder if she's decided she wants a new chew toy?" He thought of his baby daughter's rough affection and wondered if the young 'ice-man' was up to it. Probably. Bobby was a good kid.  
  
"Is it time to go home?" Steph's musical voice broke into his thoughts and he turned to grin at her, feeling like his heart was going to pop with pride.  
  
"Not yet, darlin'. Somebody wants ta talk ta ya first."  
  
She looked at him questioningly, but he only grinned wider. "Come on."  
  
They walked past the nurse's station and the woman behind the counter smiled at Logan. He grinned back, knowing very well that Steph was giving him a dangerous look, then headed down the hall to a room that said, 'McCoy, Henry" beside the door.  
  
Steph's expression changed to surprise. "He's alive?"  
  
Logan nodded and pushed the door open for her. "Go on, he wants ta talk ta ya."  
  
"You come too." She looked at him anxiously.  
  
"Accourse."  
  
"Stephanie?" came a weak voice from behind the curtain around the bed. "Is that you?"  
  
"Yeah." She pushed the curtain aside and froze, then gave Logan a startled, questioning look.  
  
"That's him," he said gently. "Go ahead, darlin'."  
  
Steph stared at the large, furry blue creature in the bed, then stepped forward hesitantly. "Hank?"  
  
"Yes, it is I." He turned his head to look at her. "You see me sadly changed, a beast in truth now as well as name, but alive thanks to your perseverance." He reached out a huge blue paw and she put her hand in it uncertainly. "Thank you, Steph."  
  
"But...." Her forehead wrinkled. "Are you going to change back?"  
  
"I do not know," he said gently. "But it is unlikely, my mutation was furthered by my unfortunate snack. I am most likely a beast to stay. But do not weep, sweet Stephanie, look at the wondrous good that has come from the incident! Your sweet voice, unleashed for the whole world to hear without harm!"  
  
Steph stared at her friend for a few more minutes while Logan, recognizing her expression, got an evil grin on his hairy mug and braced himself.  
  
"You are crazy as a $#%& bed bug!" she said at last, then added several other unprintable words.  
  
"Ack!" Hank winced. "My stars and garters! Maybe we scorned a blessing, Logan."  
  
"I didn't scorn anythin', bub, I knew what we were in for," retorted Logan grimly, thinking of how interesting things were going to be around the mansion now. 


	20. A New Baby Girl

"Yer still in here?" Logan asked, walking into Hank's hospital room and finding Steph in the chair next to the bed, looking at Hank's newly blue hand, which rested on top of the sheets. She looked up and nodded.  
  
"His pulse got weak for a sec, then his heart went nuts," she informed him, her voice catching in her throat slightly. "But no one showed up! Not one $#% doctor or nurse or no one!" Logan smiled and sat on the arm of the chair, patting her head.  
  
"They'll come if it's serious," he said. "That was prob'ly jus' a lil' side effect from the sproutin' o the fur. Kinda suits'im though, doesn't it?" Steph looked at Hank's now furry face.  
  
"I'm getting used to it. Kinda weird though, I though for sure if he ever got fur he'd be orange, like his hair was, but now that's gone too." Logan chuckled.  
  
"Well, the others'll get a surprise when they come teh see 'im or when he gets back t' the school," he said.  
  
"I want him to wake up and come back with us," she said. "I don't want to leave him with doctors who let his heart jump around like that." Logan put his arms around her and hugged her tightly.  
  
"I know darlin', but the doc says it may be a while till they let 'im out o' here," he said. "An' Ruhko n' the others need teh sleep in their own beds t'night." Steph sighed and stood slowly, stretching and grabbing her coat and looking at Hank again before turning and walking out the door. Logan was about to follow when Hank spoke.  
  
"You will return to visit this poor, furry man?" he asked quietly, his eyes opening slowly. Logan chuckled.  
  
"I'd like teh see the guy who tries 'n stop Steph n' Bobby from gettin' here," he said. "An' it won't be me bub." Hank nodded.  
  
"I bid thee farewell then, until you return," he said, closing his eyes again.  
  
"See ya Hank," Logan replied, following Steph and finding her by Rogue and Bobby down the hall a ways, talking.  
  
"Let's go," Logan said gruffly. "We'll come back t'marrow n' check on the big lump."  
  
"Alright," Bobby and Steph said, sighing. On the car ride home Steph sat in front, holding Ruhko while Bobby and Rogue sat in back.  
  
"What do you think will happen when Hank comes back?" Bobby asked. "I mean, he left a red haired guy to come back a blue furry one with fangs and claws and much bigger muscles."  
  
"He's still Hank though," Steph said, "It's not like his attitude changed too, or his knowledge or the dumb way her talks."  
  
"He'll be fine," Logan said. "He'll get used t' it n' everyone else will to."  
  
"Stupid oaf, I knew Twinkies were bad for you," Steph muttered darkly.  
  
"Wake up, wake up!" Steph yelled, banging on Logan's door, fully dressed with Rogue and Bobby in back of her. After a moment Steph reared back and kicked her dad's door open and charged in, fly tackling the sleeping mutant and bouncing off as she hit his rock- solid chest. Logan sat up with a roar, both sets of claws appearing.  
  
"Man," Steph said, sitting up and rubbing her head. Logan's head snapped over to look at her and he glared. "You really are a-" she stopped as Logan's claws disappeared and he pulled two earplugs out of his ears.  
  
"What the %&# didja do tha' for?" he growled. Steph growled back.  
  
"Look at the time! Hank's probably already awake and dying, we gotta go!" she said. Logan sighed and fell backwards on his pillow.  
  
"We ken wait till I get some shuteye," he mumbled. Steph stood up resolutely.  
  
"Fine then, I'll drive us there," she said, looking around and grabbing his keys off the dresser. Logan sat up immediately but Steph was already running out the door. "Hurry!" she yelled at Rogue and Bobby, who took off after her, Ruhko laughing madly as Logan stumbled out of his room, re-doing his belt buckle on the pants he hadn't bothered to take off the night before and tripping over his half-laced boots, a shirt thrown over his shoulder.  
  
"Steph!" he hollered, giving slow chase and trying to get dressed. "Yeh get back 'ere right now! Steph!" Steph laughed madly as she jumped over the stair banister, landing on all fours and then up and running to the garage, opening the driver's side door of the Jeep they had used the night before while Bobby and Rogue jumped in the back seat.  
  
"Fasten' yer seatbelts n' 'old on, cause I'm hitting the gas!" Steph said, quickly pulling on her own seatbelt.  
  
"Yoh not really are ya?" Rogue said worriedly. Steph laughed.  
  
"&#(( no!" she said. "I'm just pulling out down the driveway! Give daddy a little morning run, that's all!"  
  
"Driveway?!" Bobby and Rogue yelled as Steph locked the doors and put the keys in the ignition, starting up the car just as a fully clothed Logan appeared in the garage doorway.  
  
"No! Yeh turn the car off now!" he yelled, but Steph was already backing up, turned around in her seat as the garage door opened. Logan growled and ran after them as Steph swerved out of the garage, quickly putting the Jeep in gear and hitting the gas as Rogue screamed.  
  
"Do ya even know how teh drive?!"  
  
"I stole a car once, I figured most of it out!" Steph yelled back, laughing as she gunned it down the driveway, skidding to a stop at the gates, which were closing.  
  
"Ha," she said calmly. "So the professor found us out, oh well, here comes pa." She looked back and saw Rogue, breathing hard with her hair thrown about. She was holding Ruhko, who was still laughing, and glaring at Steph. Bobby looked pale and released his hold on the driver seat but still held Rogue's hand tightly, staring at Steph, who calmly unlocked the doors and crawled over into the passenger side as Logan arrived, red in the face from more than just his run.  
  
"Steph!" he yelled. "What was that? Yeh coulda gotten yerself killed! Or Ruhko, or Rogue!"  
  
"Hey," Bobby said, straightening up. Logan looked at him and then back at Steph.  
  
"Or the ice pop," he growled, climbing in. "I don't think I should let yeh go teh the hospital." Steph laughed.  
  
"You can try," she said. "But I can fly." Logan glared at her for a moment, but she met his gaze and didn't back down until he sighed.  
  
"Where'd yeh learn t' drive like that?" he asked.  
  
"I've stolen a few cars in my day," Steph replied, then quickly added "but I'm ashamed and will never, ever do it again!" Logan couldn't help but chuckle as the gate opened and he sighed.  
  
"Fine then, but nex' time jus' wake me up nicer," he said as the car lurched forward. "An' no more joy rides down the driveway, got it?"  
  
"Yes sir," Steph said. "Now we need t' get to the hospital, right ho, here we go!" Logan rolled his eyes as they drove away.  
  
"Gung-ho master!" a little boy ran past Steph as she walked through the front doors of the hospital, swinging a small plastic sword and hitting her in the knee with it the kid ran off laughing. Steph winced and rubbed her knee.  
  
"Ow, I came to a hospital to get crippled by a little brat?" she said angrily. "What's up with that?" Logan chuckled and pushed her forward towards an elevator.  
  
"That would be yer first taste o' what livin' with you is like," he chuckled. Steph scowled and growled at him until they reached Hank's floor and all five of the mutants piled out of the elevator, walking down to Hank's room. Logan knocked first but Steph just snorted impatiently and pushed past him, opening the door and walking inside commandingly... and plowing straight into Hank, who was standing in the middle of his room, buttoning his shirt calmly.  
  
"Oof!" he said, falling over backwards and landing on his butt as Steph did the same thing.  
  
"Hank? What are you doing up?!" she screeched once her head had cleared slightly. Logan took one looking at his fuming kid and turned, pushing Rogue and Bobby out of the danger zone.  
  
"Careful," he said. Hank was looking at Steph with a small smile on his large face, his new pointy teeth grinning at her.  
  
"I was tired, fair Stephanie, of laying in a bed whilst my friends rush about," he said.  
  
"Too bad! Did the doc say it was ok?" she demanded.  
  
"The kind doctor had no objections to my rising," Hank said calmly, finishing buttoning his shirt.  
  
"Hang what the doctor says! You're a mutant, he probably wants you dead anyway, but I won't let you, back in bed!" Steph said, her lower lip extending and her face turning to a pout as Logan put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"I think if he falls over, it'll be his fault darlin'," he said, trying to not laugh as Steph's hands balled into fists, her orange hair falling and hiding the edges of her dark face.  
  
"You're- you're!" she said, then, unable to think of anything she said the first thing that came to mind. "You're shirty!' Logan growled.  
  
"If that means what I thought it meant, yer in big trouble," he said. Steph blinked.  
  
"No, shirty means irritable and annoying, I think," she said. "Hang it, he shouldn't be up! What about his heart?" Logan smiled and Steph realized she wasn't going to win when he slapped a five dollar bill in her hand.  
  
"Go get somethin' ta eat," he said. "Leave Hank standin' fer a minute." Bobby chuckled as Steph stormed out of the room but stopped when Steph smacked him on the head.  
  
"You don't laugh at me!" she growled, leaving. "I'm going to get something sugary, y'all are gonna be sorry!"  
  
"Uh oh, is tha' such a good idea?" Rogue asked as the door shut.  
  
"I see no harm in her eating sugar if the delectable choice is not contaminated with any substance, which is highly unlikely in such a setting as a hospital," Hank said. Then he frowned. "Unless she becomes hyperactive, the energy of sugar is a powerful one, though short lived."  
  
"Don' we know it," Rogue giggled.  
  
"What?" Bobby asked.  
  
"Nothin' shugah," Rogue said, blushing.  
  
Meanwhile Steph was greedily unwrapping a Hershey Bar while walking back to Hank's room when suddenly the little black-skinned kid that had hit her earlier ran by, laughing and hollering.  
  
"Shut up! There are people trying to survive contamination experiences in here!" she snapped. The little boy stared at her wide eyed, his incredibly short black hair all scraggly and sticking up in back.  
  
"Excuse me miss, but you can't talk to my son like that!" said a deep voice from behind Steph, who froze, cursing her luck. She sped up, pushing on the door of Hank's room as a large, black hand landed on her shoulder and spun her around, causing her to come face to face with a large, broad featured man with a bald head but a very finely shaped goatee.  
  
"Huh?" the man gasped, and Steph's eyes went wide, her breath catching painfully in her throat.  
  
"What the-?" she said. Her father stared back at her through the eyes that she had inherited.  
  
"Steph?" Carl Renher said in a tight voice. Steph didn't reply, the forgotten candy bar falling to the floor as her arms dropped. "Steph, it is you! Did I just hear you talk?"  
  
"D-dad," Steph stuttered, completely thrown off. "Wh-what are you doing down here?" Suddenly her father smiled.  
  
"Steph!" he cried happily, stepping forward and opening his arms to embrace her. Steph's dear-in-headlight phase passed immediately, and she dodged quickly to the side, glaring at the man as she snarled.  
  
"What the &# are you doing here?" Carl stopped and his face hardened.  
  
"I taught you to not swear," he said.  
  
"Well everything you taught me I threw out the window since you threw me out the door," she growled. Carl's face flashed and he stared at Steph.  
  
"It was for your own good," he said at last.  
  
"My own good? My own GOOD?!" Steph yelled, her anger rising fast. "What the %&$ are you talking about, my own GOOD? I nearly starved because of you! I nearly died a bunch of times because you couldn't deal with me being a mutant!" Carl jerked and looked at the little boy, who was staring at Steph fearfully.  
  
"Brandon, go visit Mommy," he said in a tight voice. As the little boy disappeared Carl looked back at Steph, who glared at the kid's back.  
  
"Who is he?" she said in a low voice.  
  
"We adopted him," Carl replied. "After- about a year ago."  
  
"Brandon? What was he for? To replace me?" Steph asked venomously. Carl shook his head and held up a hand.  
  
"How can you even think that-" he stared.  
  
"Well I don't know," Steph interrupted sarcastically. "Maybe because I never believed you'd throw me to the dogs, but that was a load of crap too, wasn't it?"  
  
"Steph?" Steph whirled around to find Logan had opened the door and was staring unfriendly at Carl, who stared back. Logan came out and stood behind Steph, arms folded across his chest. "Who's this?" he asked gruffly, nodding at Carl. Steph's mouth opened and closed, how was she supposed to answer that? But Carl answered for her almost immediately.  
  
"Her father, and who are you?"  
  
"My father," Steph said, finding something to say and spinning back around, glaring at Carl as he and Logan exchanged startled looks, though it only showed in their eyes.  
  
"Father?" both of them said.  
  
"No, he's my dad, he adopted me, he doesn't throw me out if I loose it with my voice," Steph spat at Carl, pointing at Logan. "He dealt with me being a mute for months and then took me in instead of leaving me to rot in some prison, he's my father!" Carl glared at her, then at Logan.  
  
"Well," he said at last. "It was nice meeting you, Mr.-?"  
  
"Logan," Logan said gruffly.  
  
"Carl, Carl Renher," Carl replied. "Thank you for watching out for Steph, but she's already got a father, and she'll be coming home now." Steph was about to reply when Logan pushed her, lightly, behind him.  
  
"Oh no yeh don't, bub," he said. "Everythin' she said 'bout yeh is true, n' yeh obviously don't know how teh raise a kid-"  
  
"And you do?" Carl said venomously, looking Logan up and down.  
  
"I know that sometimes kids turn out t' be mutants," Logan replied, bristling. "N' besides, yeh don't got a say lawfully either, I've got all th' paperwork if that's what yeh need." Carl didn't reply when suddenly Hank, Bobby, and Rogue were standing behind Steph as well, and Hank put a protective hand on Steph's shoulder. Carl's eyes widened and he backed up when he saw Hank, who looked at him calmly but angrily through his glasses.  
  
"A- a mutant!" Carl gasped. "You're all-?"  
  
"Yeah," Bobby said simply, holding up a hand and creating an ice cube in his hand to prove the point. Logan growled at him about showing off and then turned to Carl again.  
  
"We're her family now, bub, Steph ain't yer kid anymore," he growled. "An' I'd like t' see yeh try'n convince her yer a better parent, it seems t' me she's got her mind made up, so yeh better leave now." Carl stared at him, then at Steph, who glared at him, Hank's hand was now a restraint as she leaned forward.  
  
"Fine," he said tightly, then turned. A few steps later he stopped and turned to glare at Steph. "In case you wanted to know, your mother just had a baby girl, we've named her Steph." Then he turned and walked away. For a moment Steph froze, then she let out a scream of rage and grabbed the ice Bobby had made and threw it, striking Carl in the head, though he ignored it.  
  
"Steph, no!" Hank said, wrapping his arms around the struggling teen as she tried to break free and jump her birth father.  
  
"You-!" Steph screamed, but as Carl rounded a corner and disappeared her legs faltered and she fell, Hank catching her, her body trembling uncontrollably as her breaths caught and she chocked.  
  
"Steph," Logan said in a soft voice, and Hank released her to fall into his arms. Logan kneeled on the floor with Steph crying into his chest, soaking the front of his shirt as he stroked her violently colored head and hugged her close.  
  
"Come inside," Hank said in a low voice, herding Rogue and Bobby in. "I fear Stephanie will need to recover from this unexpected strike."  
  
"Tha' no good-" Rogue growled as she was pushed through the door. "Ah'll kill'em!" Hank closed the door and Logan looked down at Steph.  
  
"It'll be ok darlin'," he said softly as she continued to cry. "It'll get better, shh, cry as much as yeh want." Inside his head Logan was planning the slow death of the one who made his Steph cry, the next time he saw that man, he'd get him, one way or another. 


	21. What You've Thrown Away

Ice Lynx; Thank you so much for the reviews!!! We love'em t' death n' can't wait for more.

giveGodtheGlory; Wow, they really like our story don't they?

Ice Lynx; Yuppys. Can't than ya enough, only thing driving me to post more, lol. And minor note; gGtG wrote this chappie, so yay for her 'cause it's a good one, enjoy!

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Steph sighed and circled the answer on her paper, then checked the math textbook and started writing out the next problem. Beside her, on the bed she was using for a desk, Ororo's chest rose and fell in the steady rhythm of sleep.  
  
Hank walked past, dragging one leg slightly as he carried a tray of tools back to the cupboard after washing them. "Art having fun, wee Ruhko?"  
  
"Daba moo lala been," murmured the baby, cuddling his leg and petting his blue fur lovingly.  
  
Hank looked down at her thoughtfully, then finished putting away the tools. "Wouldst like a Twinkie, child of the wolf?"  
  
Ruhko glanced up at him indifferently, then cooed and snuggled her pudgy cheek against his knee.  
  
He chuckled and offered her one of the little cakes, stuffing another into his mouth.  
  
Steph winced and scowled absently at the paper. "How can you eat those things after... what happened?"  
  
"Most gratefully?" asked Hank, opening another and giving it to the black- skinned baby. "And carefully." He cautiously lifted Ruhko off his foot and sat her on an examining table. "Now, see the funny light? Can you look at the funny light, oh fairest of feral infants?"  
  
Ruhko stuffed cake into her mouth and nodded, babbling importantly, then stuck an icing covered tongue out at the scanner and giggled. "Daba, Teffie."  
  
Steph looked up, temporarily knocked out of her depression. "Hey, you said my name."  
  
"Uh huh." Ruhko went back to cramming cake, holding out her empty hand for another as she finished the first one.  
  
"Steph?" Logan called, sticking his head in the door.  
  
"BEESHA!!!" shrieked Ruhko, squeezing her Twinkies and waving her hands so that the icing shot all over Hank's front.  
  
"Oh my stars and garters!" He jumped back as the baby went into Tasmanian Devil mode.  
  
Logan frowned puzzledly, then grinned and walked over to pick up his youngest and sit her on his hip. "Tryin' ta sneak a physical, Blue?"  
  
"Er...." Hank sheepishly wiped his fur.  
  
Logan laughed. "Find anythin'?"  
  
"Only that the metal on her skeleton is totally unknown to science." Hank dropped the paper towel into the garbage.  
  
"It ain't adamantium?" Logan blinked.  
  
"No, its molecular structure is similar, but the electrons that compose those molecules are far different."  
  
Logan took one of Ruhko's fat hands and looked at it thoughtfully, then gently folded it into a fist and studied the claws as they popped out. "How toxic is it?"  
  
"Not at all. As a matter of fact it seems to actually be beneficial, assisting her already enhanced healing factor." The furry blue doctor took off his glasses and licked Twinkie filling off the lenses.  
  
Logan gave him a funny look, then turned to Steph. "Get suited up."  
  
"We're going on a mission?" She jumped to her feet, folding her homework into the textbook.  
  
"Yup. Chuck'll tell ya about it when ya get ta the War room." He winced and set Ruhko down as she started using her claws on him. "Here, Blue, she wants you."  
  
"On the contrary." Hank sighed as the baby took her place on his foot again. "She dislikes me as sweetly as ever, friend Logan. It is my fur that she desires contact with."  
  
The short Canadian chuckled. "Have you seen what she does ta teddy bears?"  
  
"Yes, verily." Hank winced at the memory of the last mound of scattered stuffing and fur. "May she find other uses for me."  
  
"How about that one?" Logan asked as Ruhko sneezed and wiped her nose on the blue doctor's leg.  
  
Steph rolled her eyes, then stopped halfway out the door. "Hey, Hank, won't it be hot with all that fur inside your uniform?"  
  
"Oh dear," was the last thing she heard as she bounded toward the uniform lockers.  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
Professor Xavier read the roll, leaning back in his motorized wheelchair and meeting the eyes of each person as he called their name.  
  
"Shadowcat?"  
  
"Here," said the young brunette nervously.  
  
"Siryn?"  
  
"'Ere," said Theresa. Logan could smell his whisky on her breath.  
  
"Colossus?"  
  
"Here."  
  
"Steph?"  
  
"I have a code name."  
  
"I'm sorry, it sounds too similar to Theresa's. You'll have to think of another."  
  
"Bite me, baldy," she muttered sullenly.  
  
Logan half-raised his hand to swat her, but then caught the Professor's eye and put it down again. Chuck was right, hitting wouldn't do Steph any good, especially after what she'd been through the week before.  
  
"Rogue?"  
  
"Heah."  
  
"Iceman?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Logan pinched the bridge of his nose and took away the Gameboy. "Pay attention, bub."  
  
"Sorry." He turned red as the girls giggled and Peter smirked.  
  
"Jubilee?"  
  
"Like, here." pop  
  
"Please refrain from snapping your gum while on duty."  
  
"Sorry." crack  
  
Logan heard Charles sigh at the same time as he did. -Chuck, what are we doin', draggin' a bunch a kids out there?-  
  
-Representing our race.- The Professor smiled at him wanly and read the next name.  
  
"Beast?"  
  
"Here, oh most illustrious of leaders!" Hank beamed, fangs gleaming. The effect was faintly hilarious.  
  
"Wolverine?"  
  
"Here," he growled, pinching his nose again.  
  
Charles nodded and closed the book. "Now then...."  
  
"BEESHA!"  
  
Everyone winced, especially Hank.  
  
"Ruhko?" said Charles cautiously.  
  
"Nyo!"  
  
Charles looked at Logan evenly. "Now then, since we are all here.... Jubilee, please refrain from breathing on the table and pay attention."  
  
"Am payin' attention." She sat up and blew a gum bubble.  
  
Charles' eyes pinched slightly at the corners. "Now, as you have heard, we have a very important mission. The President has asked the Xmen to serve as his honor guard in the parade tomorrow when he visits New York City."  
  
"But they're all asleep, or gone," said Kitty worriedly.  
  
Charles sat with his mouth open for a moment. "Shadowcat, look around you. What do you see?"  
  
She did, forehead creased. "Classmates, and Dr. McCoy, and Wolvie?"  
  
"You see the X-men, Kathryn," he said gently.  
  
"Oh." She flushed in embarrassment. "Yeah. I guess we're all that's left, huh?"  
  
Steph shot her a murderous look and Logan growled at his middle child warningly.  
  
She transferred the look to him and made a hand sign under the edge of the table.  
  
"Can we git this show on the road, Chuck?" he growled.  
  
"Yes." Charles sighed.  
  
"Nyo!!!"  
  
Hank cringed, turning so pale that it showed through his fur, then pulled a package of Twinkies out of his chest pocket and offered it to Ruhko.  
  
"As I was saying," said Charles wearily. "The team will go to New York tonight to discreetly oversee security. I will be in contact with the team leaders via telepathy. Iceman, Colossus, Jubilee, and Shadowcat will be in Hank's team. Rogue, Steph, and Siryn will be in Wolverine's team."  
  
"Baby?" came a suddenly meek voice from under the table.  
  
Charles exchanged glances with Logan. "Ruhko will be in charge of making sure I'm safe."  
  
"'Tay." She went back to cooing at Hank's fur. Steph could just guess how glad he was that his uniform had short legs.  
  
"Very good, collect your overnight things and report to the Blackbird in ten minutes." Charles nodded as everyone got up, then looked under the table with a smile. "Does that taste good, Ruhko? Don't damage it too badly, or the table will fall on you."  
  
Steph stooped for a quick glimpse of her baby sister chewing on the steel table leg as she hurried out the door.  
  
======================  
  
"That's my freakin' name, and you'd better get yerself another one!" she yelled at Theresa as she stuffed her pajamas into her backpack.  
  
"I've been Syrin since m' power manifested!" the normally quiet Irish girl yelled back, green eyes flashing.  
  
"I don't care! It's mine! And I'll...." Steph paused and threw her hands over her ears as Theresa gave a sonic squeal.  
  
"Knock it off!!!" came the bellow from Logan's room.  
  
"It's mine." Steph gave her a demented, evil' grin.  
  
"What are you doin', Steph?" came Rogue's amused voice from the door.  
  
"Crud." Steph blushed, then grabbed the doll that Theresa slept with and held it over her head. "Maybe I should put this up on the light fixture."  
  
Theresa's eyes filled with tears. "Me Da gave me that before he went away."  
  
Steph felt mean, but covered it by chucking the doll at the shorter girl and swaggering out into the hall, where Logan stood with his arms crossed.  
  
He raised one eyebrow. "Would ya like it if someone did that t' you?"  
  
"No," she said sullenly.  
  
"Then knock it off." He turned and walked toward the elevator.  
  
------------------------------  
  
There was silence in the Blackbird as Hank flew with quiet efficiency, dark eyes watchful as he looked for any sings of trouble. Logan dozed in the seat beside him, occasionally twitching and growling to himself. Bobby played on the Gameboy while Rogue read a horse magazine.  
  
In the back Kitty leaned against Peter, dead to the world, while he held her and stared into space, her little purple dragon draped over his knee. Jubilee read a teen magazine and popped her gum. Across from her, Theresa hugged her overnight bag and blinked, knees pulled up under her chin. Steph scowled at a pocket Tetris game that Logan had given her at the start of the trip, going to unbelievable levels and completely unaware of the passage of time.  
  
--------------------------  
  
Logan growled and blinked awake as the jet landed on the roof of the hotel, then stretched hugely. "Did everybody die back there?" He looked around the back of his seat at the contentedly occupied young people and raised an eyebrow. "Hank, I think we picked up a bunch 'a evil clones somewhere, this can't be our kids."  
  
Steph cursed and threw the Tetris across the cabin.  
  
"Never mind. That's them." He stretched again and stood up, tripping the trigger to lower the ramp.  
  
---------------------------  
  
He was impressed at how well the security check went, the only mishap being when some female presidential aid came face to face with Hank and screamed bloody murder. Hank nearly jumped out of his skin, then jumped all over himself trying to calm the woman down. In the end it was Steph's slightly hysterical laughter that snapped her out of her fright and she huffed off like an offended hen.  
  
He chuckled at the memory and looked into his bag of freeze-dried steak and chips.  
  
"Remembering my unfortunate mishap?" Hank chewed a Twinkie and offered Theresa a bag of bread pudding.  
  
"Yup." He smirked at the doctor, then glanced at the bunk where Steph was engaged in Tetris again. "Funny, none a our girls think yer that ugly."  
  
"Doc ain't ugly!" Rogue stopped wolfing chicken parmesan and scowled. "He's th' cutest animated teddy bear Ah evah saw."  
  
"Cookie monster," said Jubilee cheerfully.  
  
"Sully," corrected Steph absently.  
  
"Does that make you Mike, shugah?" Rogue asked Bobby.  
  
"Mike's a putz," said Bobby around a mouthful of freeze dried ice cream.  
  
"Is not." Steph bobbled her key ring Mike with the rolling eye over the edge of her bunk.  
  
"Is too," he said, swallowing. "What is it with girls and dolls?"  
  
"He's not a doll, you #%$." She gave an absent chortle as she rose to another level.  
  
"Is too," said Bobby, then winced as Kitty kicked him under the table.  
  
"So's Batman," said Steph, intent on her game again, Mike sitting on his head on her chest.  
  
Bobby flushed. "How'd you know about him? I mean, what are you talking about?"  
  
"The secret's out, tovarisch," chuckled Peter.  
  
"He's not a doll!" Bobby iced up slightly. "He's an action figure."  
  
"With real clothes?" Rogue raised one eyebrow.  
  
"Knock it off," growled Logan. "If yer that bored ya can go run laps around the Bird."  
  
The kids glanced at him, then returned to their food and game meekly.  
  
He chuckled and finished the last bite of his meal, crumpling the bag and tossing it at the recycler unit on the wall. "Anybody for poker?"  
  
He was suddenly surrounded by eight different versions of The Look. "What? What's wrong with poker?"  
  
"You cheat," said Steph eloquently.  
  
"Do not!" he growled.  
  
"You do too, you showed me how the other day."  
  
"Jus' because I know how doesn't mean that I do it." He scowled.  
  
"You do it."  
  
He turned to Rogue for support, but she was laughing at him.  
  
"Fine! Whatever! I'm goin' out n make sure everthin's all right out there. The rest a ya stay here."  
  
----------------------------------  
  
Logan knew where each member of his and Hank's teams were without looking. Kitty still smelled scared, but being near Pete seemed to help.  
  
-Wish this was over already. All this cheerin's gonna leave me deaf.-  
  
-All's well otherwise?-  
  
-Yeah, Chuck, quit lookin' over my shoulder.-  
  
One of the official bodyguards gave him a funny look as he snarled to himself, but then just faced forward and kept marching.  
  
Probably afraid of the big bad mutie, he thought sourly. He couldn't tell with all the scents blowing around right now.  
  
There was a shout from behind him from Hank and he spun to see Steph arrowing into the crowds that thronged some portable bleachers next to the street.  
  
A gunshot sounded and his heart leaped into his throat as he saw his middle daughter's body jerk before she smashed her fist into the face of the guy she'd jumped.  
  
Then Hank was there, kicking the guy over and sitting on him while he lowered Steph gently to the ground.  
  
"How is she?" Logan scanned the area and saw the President getting hustled off to safety, the rest of the X-Men sticking to him like glue.  
  
"The shot missed her vital organs." Hank got up so that the police could take away the gunman, who was cursing eloquently in French and waved away the blue-coated medics who came to hover anxiously, eyes on the prone girl. "But she is losing blood rapidly. We must get her back to the Blackbird."  
  
Steph groaned and moved her head, eyes searching for Logan.  
  
"Hold still," he told her. "Hank's taken ya ta the Bird. The rest a us'll be back soon."  
  
She nodded and closed her eyes, snuggling Hank's chest as he lifted her gently and bounded away.  
  
Logan watched them go, then turned, his eyes passing over the shocked face of Carl Renher in the crowd.


	22. Waiting for Heaven

Ice Lynx; Yay! You is liking the story. You now it's funny, but I noticed alot of the reviews had the same basic message; "OO Steph got shot post soon!"

I find that lovely. Please, do leave more! (Jus' hope you like my chappie as much, :P)

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Steph groaned as Hank put her down in the seat and made the furry doctor even more nervous as he made sure her pulse was normal.  
  
"Stephanie?" he said worriedly, "Stephanie!" But she had passed out. Quickly Hank found some bandages and within moments had slowed the blood flow almost completely, though she had clearly lost a lot more blood than was safe. Within a few more minutes Logan and the rest of the X Men appeared, looking anxiously at Steph. Logan looked pale when Steph didn't respond to him also calling her name, and Hank gently pulled the man away.  
  
"We must get her back to the mansion," he said. Logan licked his dry lips and looked at the teenagers, they were all looking scared.  
  
"Yeah," he said. "Everyone sit, get buckled up." Then he turned to Rogue, who had bit her lip and hugged him. Logan held her for a moment, then separated and looked her straight in the eye.  
  
"Watch yer sister," he said. "If anythin' looks halfway wrong, tell Hank n' me."  
  
"Yeah," Rogue said, nodding as she sat next to Steph and held onto her hand as her sister slumped against her, murmuring in her sub-consciousness. Bobby sat next to the two girls as the plane took off and put a comforting hand on Rogue's shoulder.  
  
"What if-?" Rogue whispered in a choked voice. Bobby shook his head.  
  
"She'll make it, no problem," he said, looking at Steph. "She's crazy enough that she'd fly off and giggle after she got hit by a truck. Don't worry about her." Rogue nodded and looked at Steph.  
  
"Stupid," she whispered affectionately. "Gettin' shot foh the President, ya always disagreed with him befoh an' Ah had t' listen t' ya complain 'bout him when evah he was on the television." Logan listened to the words with a lump in his throat, and his glance often strayed back to the trio. The rest of the X Men teens sat together, shaken up at the turn of events on what should have been a day at the parade.  
  
"Gently," Hank said as Logan helped him put Steph on the third med table. Logan managed to force himself to step away as Hank busily checked Steph's vital signs and then got out more bandages, slowly removing the ones wrapped around Steph's waist after pulling her shirt up. Logan choked when he saw the bloody hole in her side. But as it was Steph seemed blissfully unable to feel the pain of the wound in her stomach.  
  
"Will she be alright?" Logan asked. Hank looked up at him as he worked, trying to think of the right thing to say.  
  
"She'll... she'll be up and jumping soon," he said, trying to convince himself of the same thing. From the look on Logan's face it was clear Hank had convinced neither of them any such thing.  
  
"Yeah," Logan said softly. "No one ken keep my Steph down fer long...."  
  
"Dad?" Steph opened her eyes and called out again, but got no answer. She was in the medbay, they must have brought her back after she passed out. Strangely enough no one was there, even the other med tables were empty... were Kurt and Ororo awake? Steph jumped up, not noticing that she felt no pain at all in her side. Had her friend and adopted mother woken while she was out?  
  
"Steph, you've woken up! I was so worried...." Steph spun around and to her amazement Steph found herself looking at Ororo and Kurt, who were sitting at Hank's bare desk. Steph froze as Kurt and Ororo smiled at her, a sparkle in their eyes that hid what she must have imagined to be a look of great pain and worry.  
  
"Ve vere vorried about you," Kurt said, and Ororo got up and rushed over, grabbing Steph and hugging her tightly. Tears fell down Steph's cheek as she hugged her back.  
  
"Mum!" she said, burying her head in Ororo's chest, her tears staining Ororo's gray silk blouse. Steph vaguely noticed that both her mother and friend were dressed in gray, but the thought was forgotten in an instant. After a moment Steph separated herself and then tackle-hugged Kurt, who laughed as he was knocked backwards slightly.  
  
"Alright, Alright!" he cried. "You are smothering me!"  
  
"I missed you so much," Steph sobbed as she held him tighter. Ororo put a hand on her back.  
  
"We missed you too," she said. As her joy slowly passed she looked away.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said softly.  
  
"For vat?" Kurt asked, getting off the table and putting a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"If I hadn't been so angry-"  
  
"Nonsense," Kurt said, waving a hand. "It vos not your fault, you vere angry and sad."  
  
"But I should have known enough to stay mute," Steph said, looking up. "I should have stopped myself from using my... wait, you guys didn't act surprised when I talked to you! That kid knocked you out before I could control my voice!" Kurt and Ororo looked at eachother.  
  
"You mean, you can control your voice now?" Ororo said. Steph's eyes narrowed.  
  
"I've been talking to you for the last fifteen minutes!" she said. "And what's up with your clothes?" Kurt and Ororo looked at their garments and then Kurt squeezed Steph's shoulder.  
  
"Ve- you-" he stopped and shook his head. "You didn't know?" Steph pulled away, her natural suspicion peaked and defenses rising up so rapidly it was hard for her to control her voice.  
  
"Know what?" she demanded.  
  
"Steph, look down," Ororo said gently. Steph looked at her own clothes and found to her surprise that she was also wearing gray clothes.  
  
"Who put me in this?!" she yelped, jumping away from the mutants. "What's up with you too? Where are Hank and the professor? Where's dad?"  
  
"They're..." Kurt hesitated. "Ve think, still living."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Steph demanded.  
  
"I think ve, you and I and Ororo, are vaiting for Death to come, ve are all unconscious, ve cannot vake up but since ve are all like this ve can meet, and stay together until ve are brought to Heaven," Kurt said in a strained voice, looking off into the distance. Steph looked at Ororo.  
  
"What?" she said.  
  
"It's only what we can come up with," Ororo said, tears forming in her eyes. "We haven't been able to leave this place, it only resembles the medbay anyway, and our powers don't work... what happened to you?"  
  
"I-" Steph stopped and put a hand on her stomach, searching for any trace of the bullet wound. There was none. Spinning around she looked for the medbay door, but there was none. Turning back to Ororo and Kurt she backed away from them.  
  
"No," she said, "You two were unconscious, in the medbay, in the clothes you were in the day Dad nearly killed himself in after the Danger Room practice, and you and Dad adopted me- and I went on a mission with the others for a parade and got shot-"  
  
"Shot?" Kurt repeated, looking stunned and then turning his head away.  
  
"The adoption went through?" Ororo said, her eyes sparkling suddenly. "We made it?"  
  
"Yeah, you and dad adopted me n' Rogue n' Ruk..." Steph fell back against the med-table for support. "I died?!" she cried, trying to use her powers, but with no success.  
  
"I do not think dead yet," Kurt said softly. Steph burst into tears at the words, and in a flash both Kurt and Ororo were bent down next to her.  
  
"It's alright," Ororo said, pulling her to her chest again. "It was hard for Kurt and me too, but we've... almost gotten used to it."  
  
"I can't be dead!" Steph cried, "I can't! What about Ruhko? And Rogue? And dad? And Hank? What about the others? I can't leave them! You can't either! We have to get out of here- we have to get-" Steph stopped abruptly as her voice started echoing in the deadly tones that she had not used in a while. All three of them froze and Steph cried out in pain as her stomach started to hurt terribly at once.  
  
"Steph!" Ororo said.  
  
"She's not going to die," Kurt whispered. "She is vaking up..." Steph looked at them, terrified.  
  
"No!" she yelled, her powers not effecting either adult at all. "No! You have to wake up too! You can't die!" but her words were drowned out as the entire room and Kurt and Ororo started to fade away.  
  
"If it is vat He vants, ve vill vake," Kurt said distantly. Both he and Ororo were crying as well before they were completely blackened out.  
  
"No!" Steph screamed again.  
  
"No!" Logan jerked as Steph woke, screaming and crying, her powers working perfectly and nearly knocking him out as he collapsed backwards out of the chair he had returned to the medbay. Ruhko, who had been sleeping in his lap, rolled over and started crying from the sudden wake.  
  
"No!" Steph yelled again, in a normal voice now. Logan jumped up and picked up Ruhko as Hank burst into the room, the alarm he had put in to alert him if any of the three patients in the room woke had brought him down immediately. Steph was thrashing around in her sleep and still crying, a hand going down to her injury. Logan stopped it and looked at Hank desperately.  
  
"Help!" he croaked.  
  
"She's waking up," Hank said as Steph stopped screaming and suddenly bolted upright, wincing and looking around, staring at Hank, Logan, and Ruhko in amazement, then looking down at her tussled clothes and over at Ororo and Kurt's peaceful faces.  
  
"Steph," Logan said, putting Ruhko down for a moment and embracing his daughter. Steph seemed completely off guard and remained stiff as he hugged her and then backed up. Ruhko quieted and climbed onto Steph's legs as Logan held her arms and looked at her pale face. "What's wrong?" he said. "What happened?" Steph stared at him for another moment.  
  
"Mum..." she finally said in a voice almost too faint to be heard. "n'... Kurt... I saw them. I woke up and talked to them but my powers wouldn't work and they said we were waiting for death and there was no door-" Logan and Hank looked at her, shocked.  
  
"You spoke with Kurt and Ororo?" Hank said.  
  
"Death?" Logan repeated. Steph had started to cry again.  
  
"They were afraid, and they said they were waiting to go to Heaven... and we were all wearing gray stuff! I was so scared and they tried to help but they were scared too and-"  
  
"They haven't died," Hank said, seeing the look of terror that had suddenly spread across Steph's face as she spun to look at Kurt and Ororo again.  
  
"Yeh almost-" Logan stopped and wiped a tear away. "Yeh were out fer three days, n' I was scared, crap scared Steph..."  
  
"Three days?" Steph said. Logan looked away and Hank nodded, looking pale as well.  
  
"We were all worried about you," he said. "But you're safe now, and the professor is close to finding a way to cure Ororo and Kurt, don't worry, fair Stephanie, no one shall die today, it would be working directly against all probability and fortune, too extremely powerful forces to have on your side, I'll assure you."  
  
"Yeah," Steph said in a tight voice, still looking at the sleeping forms nearby. "Sure..."  
  
"Stephanie? Surely you're not still here?" Hank said, walking into the medbay. Steph, who had kept Logan's chair, sat between Kurt and Ororo and leaned her head on Ororo's arm, holding Kurt's hand in her own, looking at the large fingers and the cross she had put in them for him, she knew it would help. She looked up as Hank kneeled down in front of her, smiling kindly.  
  
"You need sleep, to heal that red badge of honor young lady," he said.  
  
"Can't sleep," Steph murmured, sitting up and putting Kurt's hand back carefully and then sitting down in from of Hank and leaning against him. Since she had woken all will to be tough and independent seemed to have left her, which worried the adults but made Logan feel somewhat batter as she was always returning to him for hugs and small talks that helped him as well, after she had recounted her experience with Kurt and Ororo to him, Hank, and the professor. And to Ruhko, who had felt she was owed an explanation and refused to be kept out of the meeting.  
  
Hank put his arms around Steph, knowing it would comfort her as she snuggled into his fur.  
  
"You dream of them?" he guessed. Steph stared off into space as her fingers dug through his fur by her face and she slowly nodded. Hank smiled. "Well, would they like it if they woke to find you sick from lack of sleep and food?" he asked. This made Steph look up at him.  
  
"You know, you're the best comforter any gal can ask for, but you're a really annoying man," she said, as he looked down. Then she closed her eyes and lowered her head again. "I guess not though." Hank slowly stood up and pulled Steph with him.  
  
"Then come to the cafeteria, they are having a delicacy today and I do not wish to miss it," he said, leading Steph out of the room. "I fear the lure of the fine food is too much, even for you, brave Steph, and you shall have to eat some of it as soon as you smell the grease and cheese of Bobby and Peter's Grilled Cheese Special." Steph laughed as Hank herded her out of the medbay slowly, both moving her but also preventing any stress being brought on her healing wound.  
  
"I think I like you better with fur," she said after a minute. "It suits you more."  
  
"And why do you say that?" Hank asked, interested. Steph laughed.  
  
"Because you always acted like a teddy bear, but now you look like one too!" she giggled.


	23. Love Ya Forever

(A week later)  
  
Steph crept through the bushes, her eyes peeled for danger as she cocked her head and listened, weighing the nunchuks in her hands as she sought some hint of her opponent. The weapons were a gift from Logan, he'd been showing her how to use them over the days since she'd been shot. She'd really wanted sais, like Elektra used, but he'd laughed and told her he wasn't setting her loose with anything sharp.  
  
Still, nunchuks were cool. So was the thought that her adoptive father had been a ninja once upon a time.  
  
An earth-shattering roar nearly made her wet herself, and she was suddenly engulfed in a massive embrace.  
  
"Hank! You $!)#!" she screamed, trying fruitlessly to get free.  
  
He beamed down at her, canines gleaming in the light of the artificial sun. "McCoy 6, Monroe 0."  
  
"If you'd play fair I'd beat your $# furry $#!" she snarled, trying to remember what Logan had told her to do when she ended up dangling in midair with her arms pinned to her sides.  
  
"Foes very rarely fight fair, sweet Stephanie." Hank gave her an 'evil' grin, still holding her against his chest.  
  
"Fine!" She reared back and head-butted him in the chin, causing him to gasp and loose his hold, whereupon she elbowed him in the solar plexus.  
  
Hank's eyes widened as the air left his lungs, then squeezed shut in pain as Steph's heel crunched down on his instep.  
  
Following up the advantage, she spun and kicked him in the stomach, then ran forward, up his front and kicked him in the chin.  
  
There was a snap as his teeth clicked together and he crumpled in a boneless heap of blue fur.  
  
Steph crouched and watched him, thinking that he was playing again, but then got uneasy. "Hank?"  
  
No response.  
  
Worried now, she stuck the nunchuks in her belt and walked over to look down at him, then hunkered down and shook his shoulder. "Hank?"  
  
He groaned softly and his eyes fluttered open, staring disoriented at the simulated sky. "Yes, Steph?"  
  
"Oh %$#! I really knocked you out!" Steph's own eyes widened in dismay. "I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"  
  
He rolled over and rested on his elbows, head hanging, then put a hand on her knee and squeezed it gently.  
  
"Fear not, I will recover. You have not visited lasting damage to my person." He shook his head, then lifted it to give her a shaky smile.  
  
She sighed in relief. "Can you get up?"  
  
"Yes, the vertigo is passing." He gathered his legs under him till he was in the crouching position that he'd taken to assuming a lot since his transformation and grinned at her. "You fought well, fair warrior. Thy illustrious foster sire shall share my pride in the accomplishment."  
  
"What ever," she said, blushing and grinning at the praise. "You want to have another go?"  
  
He glanced at his watch and shook his head regretfully. "I must needs return to my research. It is at a crucial stage at this point and must be monitored most carefully."  
  
"K." She offered him a hand up, even though she knew he didn't need it. "I guess I'd better go see what they've got for snack in the cafeteria."  
  
"I will see thee anon, then, fair Stephanie." His big hand squeezed hers gently, then he leaped to his feet and bounded out through the doors that suddenly appeared.  
  
Steph shook her head, hiding the dopey grin she always felt when he did stuff like that. It was embarrassing to think of, but she guessed that if she had to have a crush on a teacher Hank was a good one to have it on.

------

Steph reached over Jubilee's shoulder and grabbed the last bowl of chocolate pudding, ignoring her smaller friend's complaints as she turned to scan the cafeteria for her family.  
  
Spotting Rogue and Bobby at a table near the middle of the room, she lifted her tray high and pushed through the crowd, wondering how such a small student body could cause such huge traffic jams.  
  
"Hey," her elder sister greeted cheerfully as Steph slipped into the empty seat next to her. "How was yoh practice?"  
  
"Good." Steph pushed her hair behind her ears and nodded at Bobby, then grinned at Peter and Kitty. "What is this? The X table?"  
  
"Looks like it," said Rogue as Peter chuckled and pulled out a chair for Jubilee.  
  
"You suck," the little Asian informed Steph.  
  
"You got the last pudding last time," said Steph mildly. "Let someone else have a turn. Besides, you got the last scoop of gravy."  
  
Jubilee leaned over her tray protectively, eyeing Bobby. "Like, that's different."  
  
"Is not," chuckled Rogue, dipping one of her fries in the other girl's plate.  
  
"Stop that!" Jubilee sissy-slapped at her hand.  
  
"You stop!" Rogue slapped back.  
  
Steph watched for a few minutes, absently wondering where Theresa was, then bounced one of her own fries off the side of Jubilee's head.  
  
"Hey!" She stopped and stared at Steph wide-eyed.  
  
Then her eyes narrowed and a wide grin came over her heart-shaped face. "Oh, you are so gonna regret that."  
  
"Jubilee? Vat are you doing?" Peter looked at her apprehensively.  
  
She transferred the grin to him. "Food fight!"  
  
Kitty squealed as a French fry hit her on the forehead, then whipped one back, hitting Rogue in the chest.  
  
"Oh, yoh gonna regret that, girl!" The Southern belle let fly with a forkful of mashed potatoes, getting Bobby, who'd leaned forward at just that moment.  
  
"Hey!" He froze them and started flinging the pieces at Peter, who metaled up and put up a hand to ward them off, laughing.  
  
"You guys are so...mean!" Kitty started chucking peas.  
  
"You pea'd on me!" retorted Jubilee.  
  
Steph grabbed a piece of roast and was watching for an opening in the little brunet's guard when a mental communication suddenly distracted her. "Huh? I didn't hear you, sir."  
  
-Please come to the infirmary, Steph,- he repeated patiently. -The rest of you please clean up that mess and try to set a good example for the other students.-  
  
-Coming.- She pushed her chair back and to up, skidding out a little on mashed potato.  
  
She stopped as she saw a frowning Logan waiting for her at the med bay door. "Dad? Is Ruhko okay?"  
  
"Sittin' on Hank's foot." He caught her arm and pulled her gently inside. "Come on, someone wants t' see ya."  
  
"Who...." Steph stared at the two weak smiles from the beds. "Mom? Kurt?"  
  
Their smiles widened and Ororo held out her arms tentatively.  
  
"The adoption went through?" she murmured as Steph hugged her carefully, a bit worried by how pale and weak she seemed.  
  
"Yeah." The teen pulled back to look at her. "I told you about it when we met in that other place."  
  
Ororo looked confused. "What other place, Steph?"  
  
"The waiting for death place," said Steph, glancing at Hank and Logan. "Where we met after I got shot."  
  
"You were shot?" Ororo's snowy brows went up.  
  
Steph frowned, but Kurt interrupted gently.  
  
"You saw us in a place vhere ve vere vaiting for death?"  
  
Steph nodded. "You guys explained it to me."  
  
He looked at the ceiling for a few minutes, then glanced at Charles and shook his head. "I do not remember. But it does not matter." His smile returned. "Ve did not go zat vay, Got vanted us here still."  
  
"Yeah...." Steph's chin quivered and she turned and buried her face in Logan's shoulder, sobbing silently with relief.  
  
He rubbed her back, murmuring softly in Japanese, then gently lifted her chin and grinned at her, dark eyes alight with joy. "Feelin' better now?"  
  
She nodded and gave him a watery smile, then turned to look at Kurt and Ororo, who were watching her in amazement. "Are you guys coming up for lunch?"  
  
"Not yet, sweet Stephanie," Hank spoke up gently, putting a big blue paw on her shoulder and squeezing it lightly. "It will take a few days before they recover enough to rejoin us in the upper regions of the Manse."  
  
Steph's face fell. "Well, can I stay here, then?"  
  
Ororo smiled. "You need to go to class. We will be alright." She reached out and took Steph's hand in hers.  
  
"But you must visit." Kurt's grin shone out, nearly as rakish as usual. "Ve can't be expected to get vell vith only Hank for company."  
  
Steph giggled. "Oh, he's not that bad." She glanced back at him, glad that her dark skin hid her blush. "Even if he is still eating Twinkies after he nearly killed himself with one."  
  
"Killed himself?" Ororo frowned. "Does that have anything to do with your appearance, Hank?"  
  
Steph felt him start and realized that everyone had gotten so used to his furry blueness that they tended to forget that hadn't always looked that way.  
  
"Yes," he said sheepishly. "Logan's words proved prophetic. I have indeed done something permanent to myself."  
  
"Don't blame it on me, bub," growled Logan.  
  
"Ach, there are many benefits to being furry und blue." Kurt's strange eyes danced.  
  
"Don't encourage him," said Logan. "He's already got half the girls hangin' off him."  
  
Hank puffed indignantly. "You make me sound like some foul pervert."  
  
The short Canadian quirked an eyebrow. "No, just a walkin' stuffed animal."  
  
"Dad, stop teasing him." Steph frowned, then turned toward the door as Rogue peeked around it and gave a whoop.  
  
"Yoh awake!" She bounded in for hugs. "Oh mah goodness, yoh awake!"  
  
Logan chuckled and hefted Ruhko up by one arm as she came to him, then put a hand under her feet as she hung from his neck. "She too noisy, darlin'?"  
  
"Dabba Ro-Ro," she said softly, eyes on the scene.  
  
Steph looked down at her. "Was that Rogue or Ororo?"  
  
Ruhko frowned at her. "Ro'."  
  
"Mom's Ro, too."  
  
The baby's frown intensified. "'Dup, Teffie."  
  
Steph laughed. "Dad, she told me to shut up."  
  
"That's what ya get fer teachin' er that sort a stuff." He grinned back at her.  
  
Steph's watch beeped and she sighed.  
  
Charles wheeled forward and clasped Ororo's hand. "I must return to my study before the children become restless. It is good to have the two of you back."  
  
Storm smiled. "It is good to be back, Charles."  
  
He smiled back, eyes suspiciously misty as he turned away. "Come, Steph."  
  
She glanced at Logan pleadingly, but he nodded and inclined his head at how Ororo's eyes were slipping shut.  
  
"Go on, darlin'. They need quiet right now," he murmured.  
  
Biting her lip, she hugged him and followed Charles' wheelchair out of the medbay.

------

"Dabba lo gop beesha da burga. Mumma lolo dada urdleurdleurdle gop," babbled Ruhko, hanging from Logan's neck.  
  
"Ya think?" He glanced back at her out of the corner of his eye and smiled.  
  
"Ya sink?" she responded brightly, hooking a toe in his ribs.  
  
"Ow, ouch...." He caught the offending foot in his hand and squeezed it gently.  
  
"What's the matter, Dad?" Steph poked him, feeling giddy. "Ticklish?"  
  
"You little $#&." He chuckled, flinching away from her.  
  
She grinned back and glanced toward the stairs to see if Rogue was coming yet, wondering how her elder sister could stand to take so long when they were going to see Van Helsing.  
  
Her grin widened as she listened to the peaceful sounds of the end of a school day and thought of Kurt and Ororo sleeping down in the med bay. She'd snuck down right after classes ended and Hank had assured her, as he gently hauled her out and deposited her in the hall, that they were recovering nicely.  
  
"Thinkin' a Blue?" Logan squirmed again and set Ruhko on his shoulder so she'd quit trying to use his ribcage for a ladder.  
  
"No." She frowned.  
  
"He's a good guy."  
  
"He's old." She heard Rogue on the stairs and turned eagerly. "Hurry up, Ro'! Fly!"  
  
"Ain't sposed ta do that in the house!" Rogue hollered back cheerfully, setting her butt on the banister instead.  
  
"Da lala beesha boo!" urged Ruhko, laughing, then suddenly froze, eyes widening.  
  
"What?" Logan tested the air, then yanked out his com and hit the panic button as the baby began to whimper.  
  
"Dad?" Steph felt her feet go cold as the muffled sound of evacuation came from other parts of the mansion.  
  
"I smell somethin' that shouldn't be there," he said, eyes watchful but slightly unfocused as he replied to Charles as well.  
  
Then he snarled and shoved Ruhko into Steph's arms. "Take her n get outta here."  
  
"But I'm an X man...." She turned to obey, only to jump back with a curse as the sound of breaking glass echoed all over the mansion.  
  
Ruhko screamed, the sound full of terror.  
  
"Logan?" Rogue stood poised next to him as Bobby and Peter's angry shouts came from the den.  
  
"Chuck's safe, so're the kids." He watched, listening and sniffing, eyes starting to gleam.  
  
"Medbay is secure," came Hank's unusually terse report. "How fareth the team?"  
  
"Sounds like Colossus n Iceman've engaged." Logan growled and pushed Steph and Ruhko behind him, moving so that they had a solid wall to their backs.  
  
"Engaging what?" asked Rogue softly, turning her head from side to side.  
  
The door bursting inward was her reply. Ruhko screamed again as black armored forms began to pour in, quickly surrounding the family.  
  
"Substandard material," came a filtered voice from one helmet. "Clean the genepool and contain Weapon Alpha."  
  
"I'll clean your genepool, bub." Logan unsheathed his claws, teeth bared in a snarl.  
  
Steph gasped as the armored soldier hefted a huge gun and fired at him point blank and Ruhko burrowed under her duster.  
  
Logan coughed and spit out blood, then neatly sliced the weapon to confetti.  
  
There was a startled split second silence.  
  
Then all hay broke loose.  
  
Roaring, Logan slashed and parried and spun, always keeping himself between the invaders and his children. Guns went off, but the fighting was too close and they were soon abandoned in favor of clubs, blades, and tazers.  
  
Steph clenched her jaw as blood spattered her face, hating the helplessness she felt, but knowing that she couldn't fight and hold Ruhko at the same time.Beside Logan, Rogue slipped through the paces of an intricate martial arts dance, causing her own small patch of mayhem and destruction.  
  
There were too many foes.  
  
Steph began to pray, tears sheeting down her face, then gave a cry of rage and fear as a club came against the back of her elder sister's head with a crack.  
  
Logan roared again, eyes going completely feral as she fell, then attacked with renewed fury.  
  
Ruhko stiffened suddenly and Steph tore her eyes away from the scene in front of her to look down and find the baby staring back at her blankly, black eyes empty.  
  
"No...," she said softly, then louder. "No! Ruhko, come back! Don't quit!"  
  
An agonized bellow wrenched her head up and she nearly fainted as she saw Logan laying pinned to the floor, a long lance thrust directly through his heart.  
  
"No." She shook her head in the sudden silence as his hands fell away from the haft and lay still. "No."  
  
"Surrender the subject," ordered the soldier with the fanciest decorations on his armor, as more troops poured into the foyer behind him.  
  
Steph listened to the silence in the halls, the silence where her father's voice should have been. She looked down at the still form lying at her feet and felt the shudders wracking her baby sister's body.  
  
She screamed.  
  
Her voice tore out of her, at a volume that would have had her erstwhile singing teacher fretting about damage to her vocal chords. But that no longer mattered here. It was the ghost of a dead life that held no meaning here in the ashes of her dreams.  
  
And she screamed.  
  
The black-clad soldiers reeled back, hands to their heads in agony, then fell in heaps.  
  
And she screamed.  
  
She screamed till she could taste blood and her voice broke, then stood swaying, Ruhko clutched to her chest.  
  
The sound of a hammer being drawn back wrenched her head up, and she looked into the dusky face of a teenaged girl.  
  
"No," she whispered hoarsely, recognizing the features. "You're one of us."  
  
The girl's black eyes showed no emotion, and her face, so like Ruhko's, remained hard and blank as her finger squeezed the trigger.  
  
Steph closed her eyes as the gun went off, then opened them again as the bullet tore into the paneling beside her head.  
  
Sabertooth looked back at her, swaying slightly as he stood over the crumpled form of the girl.  
  
"That...voice...packs...a $#&% of a punch," he growled, blinking groggily.  
  
Then he shook himself and staggered to Logan, pulling the lance out of the smaller man's chest and dropping it on the floor before crouching next to him. "Come on, runt, don't quit now. Yer cubs need ya."  
  
Steph stared at him uncomprehendingly.  
  
"Why?" Her voice was a horse croak and her throat seared with pain as she spoke.  
  
"I owed him." The big blond mutant didn't look up from watching Logan's face. "The rest got away?"  
  
Steph hunkered down wearily next to Rogue, feeling the tears start again as she shrugged numbly.  
  
He frowned at her, then stood unsteadily and walked off down the east hall.  
  
There was a shout and a rumbled reply, then Peter ran in, face drawn in concern. "Steph?"  
  
She looked up at him mutely, one hand on Rogue's shoulder.  
  
"Logan!" He knelt and began applying CPR. Kitty slipped through the wall behind Steph to join him.  
  
Steph watched the two teens work over her father's body, then looked up at Sabertooth as he came back, Theresa cradled in his arms.  
  
"Where the $#( are Storm and Nightcrawler?" he demanded, laying the redhead on the floor next to Rogue. "They leave?"  
  
"No." Jubilee straightened from her stealthy crouch and stared at him. "They're downstairs."  
  
He glanced at her sharply, growling, then rubbed his head and sniffed the air.  
  
Steph watched as he stood and paced unsteadily around them.  
  
-Steph?- Charles' mental voice sounded sick with worry.  
  
-Professor!- She blinked.  
  
-Hank is coming.- He projected comfort, though she could still 'hear' his pain.  
  
-Bobby?- she asked, swallowing.  
  
-Outside, searching out remaining invaders.-  
  
She sighed in relief and stroked Rogue's hair.  
  
-She is stunned, but should recover,- said Charles gently.  
  
Steph nodded, then flinched as the sound of a chopper came from outside.  
  
-The President has sent us reinforcements?- Excuse me. Charles' voice was cut out.  
  
Steph shuddered and would have whimpered if she'd had any voice, then gasped as she and Ruhko were suddenly scooped into Hank's arms.  
  
Logan coughed then and her head whipped around, eyes widening. "Dad?"  
  
"Logan?" Hank let go of her and moved to gently sit him up.  
  
"The kids?" Logan sagged weakly against his friend's arm, then stiffened and turned toward Sabertooth, his claws snikting out.  
  
"The cubs are all gonna be fine." The big blond man looked down at him with his hard black eyes, then turned away. "Debt's paid."  
  
Logan actually cracked a grin. "Till next time."  
  
"Yeah." Sabertooth smirked. "Later, runt."  
  
The X Men watched as he loped out, then turned questioningly to Logan, but he'd passed out.  
  
"We must needs take our casualties to the med bay." Hank hefted his unconscious team-mate, nodding as Peter followed suit with Rogue and Kitty got Theresa into a fireman's carry. "Charles will attend to the technicalities."  
  
Steph moved to follow, only to stop and look down at the place where the older Ruhko had lain. Glancing around quickly, she mentally called for Charles.  
  
-She offers no threat at the moment,- he replied absently. -Go get your wounds tended.-  
  
She nodded, wincing at the pain in her throat, then turned to follow the others.

-----

The debriefing took place in the med bay, so that all members of the X Men could be present.  
  
"So what'd ya find, Chuck?" asked Logan gruffly from where he lay in a bed holding the sleeping Ruhko on his chest. His heart was nearly whole again, though his lips still had a bluish cast to them.  
  
"The intruders came from a project involved in trying to bio-engineer the perfect living weapon."  
  
"Another?" said Ororo sourly from where she sat on her bed with her arm around Theresa's shoulders.  
  
"Vhy do ze bad guys haf such one-track minds? Is to be evil to mean no imagination?" asked Kurt rhetorically.  
  
Logan and Steph gave him identical 'quit the prescription' looks and he grinned.  
  
"So that other child you mentioned. She is a...prototype?" Ororo spoke the word with distaste.  
  
"Yes." Charles leaned forward so that he could see past Steph where she sat on the side of Logan's bed. "She has been taken into custody by the President's troops. They will hold her in a secure position until such time as we have space for her here."  
  
Bobby quirked an eyebrow from where he sat holding Rogue's hand, but said nothing.  
  
"They are also going to dismantle the facility and put all the notes and technology that may be salvaged into our custody," added Charles.  
  
"Vhut do zey vant in return?" asked Kurt suspiciously, tail twitching.  
  
Charles smiled. "Actually, the President sees this as payment on the debt he owes to Steph."  
  
She slid closer to Logan, shaking her head, and his smile widened.  
  
"You are a heroine, Stephanie Logan Monroe. The wishes to honor you publicly next month."  
  
She shook her head harder, ducking and looking embarrassed, but Logan reached up and gently caught her chin.  
  
"Go ahead n let 'im," he said softly. "Show the whole country what kinda people they're throwin' away."  
  
She stopped, eyes wide, then straightened, nodding slowly.

-----

Logan grinned as he lay back on the bed, remembering the day he'd said goodbye next to Alkali Lake. He'd thought he'd lost everything when that dam had broken, his past and the woman he'd loved.  
  
But now he had a family, and a future that was being clearly written.  
  
Ruhko stirred and looked around worriedly, then glanced at his grin and cracked one back.  
  
"Wuv ya ever, Daddy," she said.  
  
"Whoa!" Kitty grinned. "Cute!"  
  
"Was that, like, her first sentence?" Jubilee took her gum out to ask.  
  
Logan blinked away moisture. "Yeah."  
  
He held the baby close, feeling the restlessness still and the emptiness fill as he glanced from her to Steph ad Rogue and realized that he knew exactly who he was and where he belonged.  
  
"I'll love ya forever, too, darlin'," he murmured. 


	24. Epilogue

Ice Lynx; (is very alarmed) NO! Come back gentleviewers! This, points THIS is the end!

Come back and read!!!

GiveGodtheGlory; I'm going to miss writing this...

Ice Lynx; Yeah, well, you should come back 'cause we're working on a sequal, and I have a few AU sequals that are being posted as I finish 'em, I'm gonna start posting my already-finished piece with Steph and everyone and a few others, look for it kk? It's called "Stripes".

It's also an AU sequal to "Milana, Daughter of Mystery", which I believe a few of you have read. I hope y'all read it and like it.

Anyway, ON TO THE EPILOGUE!!!

----------------------------------------------------

The President's speech was long, but to the point. Steph felt far too embarrassed by the praise he sent her way to be bored. Logan's proud smirk didn't help any, though it made her feel like she wanted to cry.  
  
Charles nudged her gently, and she snapped back to paying attention, dropping the black olive she'd kept from dinner onto the floor.  
  
"It pains me deeply to think that young people like Stephanie are heartlessly cast away every day," the President was saying sadly. "Young people with hopes and dreams just as any person their age has, who have so much to offer to society and their country. People, I believe that God does not make mistakes. I believe that He is the only Creator. Mutants therefore are part of His creation and He made them for the same reason that he made so-called normal humans. They are here to stay. Please, help me make space for them."  
  
Steph sat with her mouth open slightly as most of the people in the room stood, clapping thunderously.  
  
"Holy crud," she mumbled.  
  
"My thoughts exactly," murmured Hank.


End file.
